Romer v. Evans

E90996

Romer v. Evans is a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down a Colorado constitutional amendment targeting gay, lesbian, and bisexual people as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.


Statements (46)
Predicate Object
instanceOf LGBT rights case
United States Supreme Court case
landmark civil rights case
affectedGroup bisexual people
gay people
lesbian people
areaOfLaw LGBT rights law
civil rights law
constitutional law
arguedDate 1995-10-10
challengedProvision Colorado Amendment 2
citation 517 U.S. 620
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted Equal Protection Clause
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
country United States
decidingCourt Supreme Court of the United States
decisionDate 1996-05-20
dissentingJustices Antonin Scalia NERFINISHED
Clarence Thomas NERFINISHED
William H. Rehnquist
dissentOpinionBy Antonin Scalia NERFINISHED
docketNumber 94-1039
fullCaseName Romer, Governor of Colorado, et al. v. Evans et al.
hasJurisdiction United States
holding A state cannot single out homosexual and bisexual persons and deny them protection across the board
Colorado Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause
languageOfOpinion English
legalIssue Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
majorityJustices Anthony M. Kennedy NERFINISHED
David H. Souter NERFINISHED
John Paul Stevens NERFINISHED
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Sandra Day O’Connor
Stephen G. Breyer NERFINISHED
majorityOpinionBy Anthony M. Kennedy NERFINISHED
originatingState Colorado
precedentFor LGBT equal protection jurisprudence in the United States
reasoning law based on animus toward a class of persons lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate state interest
result Colorado Amendment 2 was struck down as unconstitutional
standardOfReviewDiscussed rational basis review
term 1995 term of the U.S. Supreme Court
topic anti-discrimination protections
sexual orientation discrimination
state constitutional amendments
vote 6-3
yearDecided 1996

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Equal Protection Clause
basisFor
Romer v. Evans ("Romer, Governor of Colorado, et al. v. Evans et al.")
fullCaseName

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