The Hidden Dichotomy in the Law of Morality

The Hidden Dichotomy in the Law of Morality
Justin P. Nichols, 31 Campbell L. Rev. 591 (2009)

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A careful reading of American jurisprudence reveals that hidden within the states’ so-called interest in protecting morality, there is a dichotomy between the unconstitutional imposition of religious morality and the proper and necessary protection of the civil morality. Rather than annihilating the states’ right to enforce laws on the basis of any form of morality, Kennedy’s opinion in Lawrence carefully excised and prohibited statutes based merely on religious morality, while leaving the states’ ability to enforce laws based on civil morality untouched.