👩🏾‍⚖️ap us government review

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2027 exam
Verified for the 2027 examWritten by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025

Definition

Declared that state criminal laws penalizing consensual intimate sexual conduct between adults of the same sex violate the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. By overruling an earlier precedent, it broadened constitutional privacy protections for LGBT people and reshaped subsequent equal-protection and marriage-rights litigation.

AP course connection

Topic 3.7: 3.7 Selective Incorporation & the 14th Amendment

Unit 3

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