U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Cuccinelli’s Appeal of Anti-Sodomy Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal of a lower-court ruling that struck down Virginia’s anti-sodomy law, halting state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s long-standing legal efforts to preserve the statute.

Cuccinelli is the Republican nominee for governor on the Nov. 5 ballot, and Virginia’s “crimes against nature” law — which bans oral and anal sex — has become a flash point in his contest against businessman Terry McAuliffe (D), who has portrayed Cuccinelli as an extremist on social issues.

Cuccinelli and other defenders of the law, including local prosecutors, have said that it is a vital tool for stopping child predators. Cuccinelli has said that the law “is not — and cannot be — used against consenting adults acting in private.”

The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that sodomy statutes criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults were unconstitutional. Based on that ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in March 2013 that Virginia’s statute was unconstitutional.