Zinnen op Wikipedia (28)

[Maandag is in California de rechtszaak begonnen rond de ongrondwettelijkheid van Proposition 8, die gezorgd heeft voor de beëindiging van het homohuwelijk in Californië. Verwacht wordt dat deze zaak uiteindelijk zal eindigen in het federale hooggerechtshof. De advocaten (Ted Olson en David Boies, die tegenover elkaar stonden in W. v. Gore) van de eisende partij beroepen zich nadrukkelijk op Lawrence v. Texas.]

Uit het lemma 'Lewis F. Powell, Jr.'

'Powell was the swing vote in Bowers v. Hardwick 478 U.S. 186 (1986), opting to go with the majority ruling which upheld Georgia's sodomy laws. He was reportedly distressed over how to vote. A conservative clerk advised him to uphold the ban, and Powell, who believed he had never met a gay person (not realizing that one of his own clerks was a closeted homosexual), voted to uphold Georgia's law, though Powell in a concurring opinion expressed concern at the length of the prison terms prescribed by the law. The Court, 17 years later, expressly overruled Bowers in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003).

In 1990, after his retirement from the Court, he said, "I think I made a mistake in the Hardwick case," marking one of the few times a justice expressed regret for one of his previous votes.'