Opinion ID: 451646
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Doctrinal Developments after Doe

Text: 22 Even if Doe had been resolved on the constitutional grounds now asserted by Hardwick, 6 the Supreme Court has indicated since that time that the constitutionality of statutes such as the one in question here is not governed by Doe but, rather, remains an open question. Since a summary disposition binds lower courts only until the Supreme Court indicates otherwise, Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 344-45, 95 S.Ct. 2281, 2289-90, 45 L.Ed.2d 223 (1975), developments subsequent to the Doe decision undermine whatever controlling weight it once may have possessed. 23 Doctrinal developments need not take the form of an outright reversal of the earlier case. The Supreme Court may indicate its willingness to reverse or reconsider a prior opinion with such clarity that a lower court may properly refuse to follow what appears to be binding precedent. Indianapolis Airport Authority v. American Airlines, Inc., 733 F.2d 1262 (7th Cir.1984); Browder v. Gayle, 142 F.Supp. 707 (M.D.Ala.) (three-judge court), aff'd per curiam, 352 U.S. 903, 77 S.Ct. 145, 1 L.Ed.2d 114 (1956). Even less clear-cut expressions by the Supreme Court can erode an earlier summary disposition because summary actions by the Court do not carry the full precedential weight of a decision announced in a written opinion after consideration of briefs and oral argument. Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego, 453 U.S. 490, 500, 101 S.Ct. 2882, 2888, 69 L.Ed.2d 800 (1981); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 671, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1359, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). The Court could suggest that a legal issue once thought to be settled by a summary action should now be treated as an open question, and it could do so without directly mentioning the earlier case. At that point, lower courts could appropriately reach their own conclusions on the merits of the issue. Lecates v. Justice of the Peace Court No. 4 of Delaware, 637 F.2d 898 (3d Cir.1980). 24 At least two actions by the Supreme Court demonstrate that it now considers the constitutional issues purportedly determined in Doe to be unsettled. The first indication came in the decision in Carey v. Population Services, 431 U.S. 678, 97 S.Ct. 2010, 52 L.Ed.2d 675 (1977). The Court there held, inter alia, that a state could not prevent the sale of non-prescription contraceptives to adults by persons other than licensed pharmacists. Justice Powell stated in a concurring opinion that the majority had employed an unnecessarily broad principle that subjected all state regulation affecting adult sexual relations or personal decisions in matters of sex to the strictest standard of judicial review. The majority responded in footnote 5 that its holding only applied to state regulation that burdens an individual's right to decide to prevent conception by substantially limiting access to the means of effectuating that decision. It then went on to state the following: As we observe below, 'the Court has not definitively answered the difficult question whether and to what extent the Constitution prohibits state statutes regulating [private consensual sexual] behavior among adults,' n. 17, infra, and we do not purport to answer that question now (brackets in original). Footnote 17, although joined only by a plurality, casts some light on the nature of the private consensual sexual behavior among adults referred to in footnote 5 because it cites a law review comment 7 that discusses the possible application of Supreme Court precedent to criminal statutes outlawing private consensual sexual activities, including sodomy. Justice Rehnquist, in a dissenting opinion, criticized the language of footnote 5 because he considered it to be in conflict with Doe, which in his view had definitively established the constitutional validity of state prohibitions of certain consensual activities. 25 The implications of footnote 5 could hardly be clearer. The plain meaning of the phrase private consensual sexual behavior among adults encompasses acts of sodomy carried out between consenting adults in private. The identical phrase in footnote 17 is accompanied by a reference to just that sort of activity. The ability of the state to regulate conduct as Georgia has attempted to do, according to the Court in Carey, is now an open question. Obviously Carey does not provide much guidance as to the proper analysis of the constitutional claims presented in this case; just as obviously, it calls on lower courts to analyze such claims rather than relying on Doe. 26 A second development in the Supreme Court occurred more recently when the Court granted certiorari in New York v. Uplinger, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 64, 78 L.Ed.2d 80 (1983), and later dismissed the writ as improvidently granted, 104 S.Ct. 2332 (1984). The New York Court of Appeals had ruled in that case that federal constitutional law invalidated a New York statute prohibiting persons from loitering in a public place for the purpose of engaging, or soliciting another person to engage, in deviate sexual behavior. The decision was premised on an earlier ruling by that court in People v. Onofre, 51 N.Y.2d 476, 434 N.Y.S.2d 947, 415 N.E.2d 936 (1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 987, 101 S.Ct. 2323, 68 L.Ed.2d 845 (1981), where it held that the federal constitution invalidated a state statute criminalizing any act of sodomy between two persons. Hence, the petitioner for writ of certiorari in Uplinger urged the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of state regulations prohibiting consensual sodomy among adults. 27 After the Supreme Court received the briefs of the parties and heard oral argument in Uplinger, it dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted. In a per curiam order, the Court stated that the case presented an inappropriate vehicle for resolving the important constitutional issues raised by the parties. The Court also indicated that the constitutionality of state laws against consensual sodomy was one of the most important of those issues; it explained that several impediments to consideration of the constitutional issues presented in the Onofre decision figured heavily in its decision to dismiss the writ. Those impediments included the belated decision of the petitioner not to challenge the Onofre decision and the fact that the state court decision in Uplinger was subject to varying interpretations, leaving uncertainty as to the precise federal constitutional issue the state court decided. 28 It is fair to conclude from this order that the Supreme Court was prepared to address the constitutionality of state regulations like Georgia's sodomy statute but chose to address the issue when presented more directly in another case. 8 While the Court may have meant that it was prepared to reconsider the Doe affirmance, which would have remained binding precedent until overruled, such a possibility is unlikely because the Court never referred to Doe in the Uplinger proceedings or indicated in any way that the underlying constitutional issue was settled, even temporarily. 9 Under these circumstances, we interpret the order as an indication that the constitutional questions presented by Hardwick are still open for consideration by the Supreme Court and by this Court. This order, together with the Court's observation in Carey, deprives Doe v. Commonwealth's Attorney of whatever controlling weight it once may have had. The district court erred in dismissing Hardwick's claim.