Romer v. Evans
ROMER V. EVANS
ROMER V. EVANS (Roy Romer, Governor of Colorado et al., v. Richard G. Evans et al., 517 U.S. 620, 1996). In 1992 Colorado citizens voted to adopt an amendment to the state constitution known as Amendment 2 that repealed all local ordinances banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Amendment 2 also prohibited all state or local governmental actions designed to protect homosexual persons from discrimination. Soon after the amendment's adoption, municipalities that had adopted protective ordinances and various individual plaintiffs challenged it. A state trial court enjoined the enforcement of Amendment 2, and the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed. In Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed by a 6–3 vote, holding that Amendment 2 violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Justice Anthony Kennedy's opinion for the Court was surprising in that it struck down Amendment 2 while applying only "rational basis" scrutiny, the lowest level of constitutional review under the equal protection clause and a level of review that is ordinarily quite deferential. The Court held that Amendment 2 imposed special disabilities on homosexuals, that these disabilities were animated by "animosity" toward the class, and that animosity cannot itself be a "legitimate governmental interest." As the Court held, "a State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws." The Court thus did not reach the question of whether to classify homosexuals as a "suspect class," making discrimination against them subject to heightened scrutiny.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote a biting dissent. Scalia argued that the Court's decision was directly contradicted by Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S.186 (1986), which held that the Constitution does not prohibit states from making homosexual conduct a crime.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rotunda, Ronald D., and John E. Nowak. Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure. 3d ed. Volume 3. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1999.
KentGreenfield
See alsoDiscrimination: Sexual Orientation .