Although the field of LGBT studies has engendered a significant body of literature in recent years, few scholars have broached the subject of sodomy. There are a handful of historical studies: Sodomy, Masculinity, and Law in Medieval Literature: France and England, 1050-1230 by William E. Burgwinkle (2004), Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600 by Helmut Puff (2003), Rum, sodomy, and the Lash: Piracy, Sexuality, and Masculine Identity by Hans Turley (1999), The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology by Mark D. Jordan (1997), and an interesting study of the subject in literature, Sodomy and interpretation : Marlowe to Milton by Gregory W. Bredbeck (1991). When it comes to the legal analysis of sodomy in United States court cases, the literature is even scarcer. Only two recent works have touched on this topic: America on Trial: inside the Legal Battles that Transformed our Nation by Alan M. Dershowitz appeared in 2004, and William N. Eskridge, Jr, published Dishonorable Passions : Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003 in 2008. With the addition of The Sodomy Cases: Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas, David A.J. Richards has added a significant contribution to the discussion.

Part of the series, “Landmark Law Cases and American Society”, Richards's meticulous book offers a thorough examination of privacy rights in relationship to contraception, abortion, and the two U.S. sodomy cases. He considers the entire development of the constitutional right to privacy in U.S. law, and explores the question of why sexuality plays such a central role. The 1986 Supreme Court's decision in Bowers v. Hardwick stemmed from a 1982 gay-sex arrest in an Atlanta home under a Georgia law that criminalized sodomy. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no constitutional protection for sodomy and that states could outlaw such practices. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) followed a similar arrest in 1998 in Houston, where Texas law also criminalized sodomy, but only when practiced by members of the same sex. The Court overturned both the Texas law and the Bowers decision because they denied due process protection to consenting adults whose sexual practices were conducted in private.

Richards traces these privacy issues to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which insured a woman’s choice to end a pregnancy, and the concept of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, particularly as applied to free speech and civil rights. These two concepts, according to Richards, came together in challenging the state sodomy laws.

The Sodomy Cases begins with an historical examination of homosexuality in western culture. Part political theory, the book is also a cultural history. Discussion of the cases is enriched by an examination of the cultural construction of attitudes toward homosexuality and the relationship of gender and race equality. Richards touches on the association of homosexuality with prostitution and the fear of obscenity prosecutions for speaking out, the Nazi campaign against homosexuality, and sources of inspiration to civil rights movements such as Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes and Oscar Wilde. Central to the book is the author's concise and intelligent analysis of the background, briefs, and oral arguments behind each case, and illuminating summaries of the Justices' opinions. The shift in tone between the two cases illustrates an important change in cultural attitudes toward homosexuality, from the hostile nature of Justice White's majority opinion in the Bowers v. Hardwick case, to the reasoned observations offered by Justice Kennedy during the deliberations over Lawrence v. Texas. The documentation of the legal proceedings and the nature of the Supreme Court deliberations is often captivating. Riichards closes with an overview of current discussions that focus on applying the principles of equal protection and the right to privacy to other areas of the law, particularly same-sex marriage.

David A. J. Richards is Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University. His previous work includes The Case for Gay Rights: From Bowers to Lawrence and Beyond.