Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Ohio

I have a question about the 14th Amendment.

Scenario: State is charging a teacher (25) with sexual battery for having sex with an 18 year old student. Should the two have protections under the equal protections clause since most adults have the right to have consensual sex?

William J. Brennan did write, speaking for the majority opinion in Eisenstadt v. Baird, that "it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision to bear or beget a child." Although the Baird case dealt primarily with unmarried people possessing contraception, it established the allowance of unmarried couples to engage in nonprocreative sexual intercourse. Other than this, I have found no other Supreme Court precedent on this issue.


Asked on 5/07/11, 5:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

While the statute primarily concerns adults having sex with minors, there is a section of the statute which deals with teachers and their students, and it actually applies to persons regardless of age. Several cases in Ohio have tested the constitutionality of the statute as it applied to teachers and their adult students and it has been upheld.

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Answered on 5/08/11, 4:52 am


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