SC Governor reappears...after going to Argentina?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I can't remember ever thinking about this before, but why would adultery being illegal be unconstitutional?

Short version: Since Lawrence v Texas, in which the US Supreme Court struck down Texas's law criminalizing sodomy on the grounds that it violated constitutional privacy protections (ie, criminalizing acts of sexual intimacy between consenting adults), there has been speculation that a similar reasoning would invalidate laws criminalizing adultery. Civil laws of alienation of affection and divorce would presumably provide adequate recourse for the "non-offending" spouse without the need for the government to impose criminal punishment.

Originally Posted by KSigkid

As for the media response - I think it's just a symptom of the over-sensationalization (if that's a word, which it probably isn't) of these types of events. Sanford is a prominent politician with some national following, and it's an easy way for the media to pick up readers/viewers/listeners/etc.

i think that may be generally true, but this case is a little different, I think. Sanford basically set up the media response by going AWOL. It was a story before the adultery part came out -- though as has been said, many of us guessed that it was coming. I still think the AWOL aspect is still the real public story, although it's not a juicy.

Originally Posted by deepimpact2

his wife probably would have no interest in suing this woman. Women like the First Lady of SC are satisfied as long as they have their money, power, prestige, and children.

Wow. Stereotype much?