Thursday, July 18, 2013

Working To Bring Back Anti-Sodomy Laws

Virginia's attorney general and GOP candidate for governor:
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP's 2013 gubernatorial candidate, filed a petition Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to uphold Virginia's anti-sodomy law.
Cuccinelli wants the court to reconsider a March 2013 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit striking down the state's "crimes against nature" statute. The 4th Circuit ruled that the law did not pass muster in light of the Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, which struck down the latter state's anti-sodomy law as an unconstitutional criminalization of Americans' sexual conduct. The Virginia law, however, remained on the books.
The 4th Circuit ruled in favor of William Scott McDonald, who was convicted in 2005 at age 47 under the Virginia statute for soliciting a 17-year-old girl to commit sodomy. That law broadly makes oral and anal sex a Class 6 felony. While such laws historically targeted gay men, they have also been used against heterosexual activity.
The three-judge panel ruled that an unconstitutional law could not be used to convict McDonald. It added that the Virginia Legislature could pass another law to criminalize sexual conduct specifically between a minor and an adult. The Lawrence ruling applied only to consensual adult conduct.
Cuccinelli's petition argues that given the Lawrence decision's application only to consenting adults, the Virginia law can stand as applied to contact between minors and adults.
The attorney general had previously tried to persuade the full appeals court to reconsider the panel's decision. The court denied that petition in April.
Apparently, the state's age of consent is 15, so they couldn't get the guy for having sex with a minor.  Instead, they charged him with violating the anti-sodomy law.  I'm not sure, but I don't think banning blow jobs will win any votes from people under, what, 70?  Now, seriously, wouldn't this upset the supposedly not tiny libertarian wing of the Republican party?  It seems like a government that shouldn't regulate environmental pollution shouldn't tell two adults what they can do with their bodies for the most part.  But the Republicans have never been known for being consistent on governmental power.

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