What Lawrence Brought for "Show and Tell": The Non-fundamental Liberty Interest in a Minimally Adequate Education

Abstract

In 1973, under an Equal Protection Clause challenge, the Supreme Court in San Antonio v. Rodriguez held that education is not a fundamental right implicitly or explicitly found within the U.S. Constitution. The substantive due process jurisprudence of the Court's 2003 term raises serious questions about the legal and theoretical underpinnings of Rodriguez. Lawrence v. Texas stands for a bold, new architecture that the Court may employ in future substantive due process decisions. This Note argues that if the due process analysis forged in Lawrence is followed, the Supreme Court may reconsider its thirty-year-old Rodriguez decision, recognize the non-fundamental liberty interest in a minimally adequate education under the Due Process Clause, and provide some relief to schoolchildren in grossly underperforming schools.