100 Americans Making Constitutional History: A Biographical History presents 100 profiles of the key people behind some of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases. Edited by Melvin I. Urofsky, a respected constitutional historian, each 2,000-word profile delves into the social and political context behind landmark Court decisions. For example, while a case like Brown v. Board of Education is about an important idea—the equal protection of the law—at its heart it is the story of a little girl, Linda Brown, who wanted to go to a decent school near her home. The outcome is accessible and objective “stories” about the individuals—heroes and scoundrels—who fought their way to constitutional history.

Michael Hardwick

Michael Hardwick

The Battle for Gay Rights

“What are you Doing in My Bedroom?”

Bowers v. Hardwick

478 U.S. 186 (1986)

Early in the morning of August 3, 1982, Officer K. R. Torick entered Michael Hardwick's house in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Torick had a warrant for Hardwick's arrest for his failure to appear in court on a charge of drinking in public. Several weeks earlier, Torick had ticketed Hardwick for carrying an open beer bottle outside the Cove, a popular gay club where Hardwick worked as a bartender. Torick was unaware that Hardwick already appeared in court and paid a $50 fine for this offense. But the officer either did not know or did not care that he had written the wrong court date on ...

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