Sexual Injustice

Supreme Court Decisions from Griswold to Roe

By Marc Stein

384 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, notes, index

  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-9937-3
    Published: October 2010
  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-0088-8
    Published: February 2013
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-8185-4
    Published: October 2010

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Awards & distinctions

A 2011 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

Focusing on six major Supreme Court cases during the 1960s and 1970s, Marc Stein examines the generally liberal rulings on birth control, abortion, interracial marriage, and obscenity in Griswold, Eisenstadt, Roe, Loving, and Fanny Hill alongside a profoundly conservative ruling on homosexuality in Boutilier. In the same era in which the Court recognized special marital, reproductive, and heterosexual rights and privileges, it also upheld an immigration statute that classified homosexuals as "psychopathic personalities." Stein shows how a diverse set of influential journalists, judges, and scholars translated the Court's language about marital and reproductive rights into bold statements about sexual freedom and equality.

About the Author

Marc Stein is the Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Professor of History at San Francisco State University. He is author of City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia and editor-in-chief of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America.
For more information about Marc Stein, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Outstanding for collections on gay rights and the law. . . . Highly Recommended."--Choice

"A valuable legal history of the period often referred to as the sexual revolution."--Journal of Southern History

"An important, readable, and persuasive book. . . . After reading this important new study, readers will indeed think twice before celebrating a sexual revolution in the Court."--Law and History Review

"Stein's invaluable study . . . make[s] it required reading for anyone seeking to understand the changing relationship between law and sexuality."--The American Historical Review

"Stein is the first scholar to examine this episode in any depth and to tell Boutilier's tragic story following the Supreme Court ruling."--YFile, York University's Daily Bulletin

"Offers a sophisticated understanding of the narrow outlook of the Court on issues of sexual rights. . . . An important contribution to the history of law, sexuality, immigration, and citizenship. . . . In addition to his brilliant interpretation of these cases, Stein also presents a beautiful discussion of his approach and methodology as well as a remarkable transparency in his use of potentially difficult sources. . . . Offers a remarkable model and a useful example for all historians."--H-Net Reviews

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