Appellant: Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General of Georgia

Appellee: Michael Hardwick

Appellant's Claim: That state laws making sodomy a criminal offense do not violate the constitutionally protected right to privacy.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant: Michael E. Hobs

Chief Lawyer for Appellee: Laurence Tribe

Justices for the Court: Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting: Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens

Date of Decision: June 30, 1986

Decision: The ruling upheld the Georgia law by reasoning that no fundamental right has been granted to homosexuals to engage in sodomy and, therefore, the law did not violate the right of privacy guaranteed under due process.

Significance: The...