Author Archives: Tin Man

Interior Designers Breathe Easy

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One sentence in O’Connor’s concurrence in Lawrence is particularly interesting:

“As the Court notes… petitioners’ convictions, if upheld, would disqualify them from or restrict their ability to engage in a variety of professions, including medicine, athletic training, and interior design. See, e.g., Tex. Occ. Code Ann. §164.051(a)(2)(B) (2003 Pamphlet) (physician); §451.251 (a)(1) (athletic trainer); §1053.252(2) (interior designer).”

Do you see that? Before Thursday’s decision, gay people in Texas were technically not allowed to be interior designers.

If for no other reason than this, Lawrence was an excellent decision.

Lawrence v. Texas Quotes

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I’m going to put together a list of interesting (or entertaining) quotes on Lawrence v. Texas. Here are a few, for starters.

”There is a strength and passion to the decision… it doesn’t just overturn Bowers, it trashes it.”

– David Garrow, Emory University law professor, praising the ruling

“Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the three [dissenters], called the ruling ‘the invention of a brand-new “constitutional right” by a Court that is impatient of democratic change.’ It is the same argument made in 1967 for upholding a Virginia law banning marriage between blacks and whites. The idea that minorities must wait for the majority to recognize their basic rights is as wrong today as it was then.”

– Friday’s lead editorial in the New York Times

And here is one of my favorites:

“The court is forcing San Francisco values on the whole country.”

– Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst for the Culture and Family Institute (from the Boston Globe)

More as I find them.
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