United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Rose v. Locke, 423 U.S. 48 (1975)

Rose v. Locke

No. 74-1451

Decided November 17, 1975

423 U.S. 48

Syllabus

Tennessee statute proscribing "crime against nature" held not unconstitutionally vague as applied to cunnilingus, satisfying as it does the due process standard of giving sufficient warning that men may so conduct themselves as to avoid that which is forbidden. Viewed against that standard, the challenged statutory phrase is no vaguer than many other terms describing criminal offenses at common law, which are now codified in criminal codes. Moreover, the Tennessee Supreme Court, by previously rejecting claims that the statute was to be narrowly applied, has given sufficiently clear notice that it would be held applicable to acts such as those involved here when such a case as this arose. Wainwright v. Stone, 414 U. S. 21, and Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U. S. 347, distinguished.

Certiorari granted; 514 F.2d 570, reversed.