Michael Hardwick was arrested for violating the Georgia criminal sodomy statute[1] after the police walked into his bedroom and witnessed a sexual act between him and another male. Both men spent ten hours in jail before they were released. The District Attorney did not press charges against either man, but reserved the right to do so in the future. The Georgia statute carries a punishment of up to twenty years for committing the offense of sodomy. Hardwick sought a declaratory judgement challenging the validity of the law. Hardwick v. Bowers (1985) declared the Georgia Statute unconstitutional based on precedent set by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965); Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972); Stanley v. Georgia (1969); and
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