Opinion ID: 1219824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: void for overbreadth

Text: The Arizona statutes are attacked as reaching both married and unmarried persons, and both consenting and nonconsenting adults. The former has been discussed above, and, true, the latter distinction does not appear facially from the statutes. However, statutes do not stand alone. Judicial interpretation adds meaning to a statute as certainly as if the words were placed there by the legislature. Wainwright v. Stone, supra . The United States Supreme Court is the ultimate authority interpreting the United States Constitution. Judiciary Act of 1789, 1 Stats. at L. 73. Its opinions on that subject are binding. Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304, 4 L.Ed. 97 (U.S. 1816). While it has said in Griswold and Eisenstadt that the State cannot interfere with the private sexual behavior of two adults, in neither of those opinions did it determine that the State could not regulate sexual misconduct. In fact, the contrary was noted by Justice Goldberg in his concurring opinion in Griswold. See also Poe v. Ullman, supra (dissent of Justice Harlan). The Arizona statutes may thus be properly construed to prohibit nonconsensual sexual conduct and remain constitutional. Hughes v. State, 14 Md. App. 497, 287 A.2d 299 (1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1025, 93 S.Ct. 469, 34 L.Ed.2d 317. Certainly the State retains a compelling interest in protecting its citizens from violence even if the combatants are married to one another. The State may also regulate other sexual misconduct in its rightful concern for the moral welfare of its people. See Poe v. Ullman, supra (dissent of Justice Harlan). The right of privacy is not unqualified and absolute and must be considered in the light of important state interests. Roe v. Wade, supra . Sodomy has been considered wrong since early times in our civilization. Deuteronomy 23:17, Leviticus 18:22-23; 4 Blackstone, Commentaries 215; 2 Pollock & Maitland, The History of English Law 556. The lewd and lascivious acts prohibited in this state have also been traditionally prohibited. The legislature has thus made certain sexual behavior criminal by its power to regulate the health, morals and welfare of its people. This type of activity has not been discussed by the United States Supreme Court. We therefore hold that sexual activity between two consenting adults in private is not a matter of concern for the State except insofar as the legislature has acted to properly regulate the moral welfare of its people, and has specifically prohibited sodomy and other specified lewd and lascivious acts. While we are very well aware that some of the acts complained of are not universally condemned, we are equally cognizant of our role as the judicial branch of government and not the legislative. Whatever our personal predilections in the area of sex may be, this is not the time to voice them, for the public policy of the State in this and other areas of concern is articulated by the legislature. State v. Mortimer, supra .