by Matt Barr

Woman seeks penumbra enlargement

"A Pender County dispatcher forced to quit her job last year after the sheriff discovered she had a live-in boyfriend is suing to overturn a N.C. law that makes living together a crime," the News & Observer reports (link via How Appealing).

Sheriff Carson Smith told Debora Lynn Hobbs, 40, that she would have to marry, move or leave her job, said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina.

"I just didn't think it was any of my employer's business whether I was married or not, as long as I was good at my job," Hobbs said in a statement. "I couldn't believe that I was being given this ultimatum to choose between my boyfriend or my livelihood because the sheriff wanted to enforce a 200-year-old law that clearly violates my civil rights."

Those sheriffs and their law enforcement. Let's be clear: It's a stupid law, offensive to the dignity of 21st century American adults. So, it should be repealed. Right? Not so fast, Slappy:

[Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina] said unmarried couples have a constitutional right to live together.

She cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 that struck down Texas' sodomy law. That ruling says a law making such sex acts between same-sex couples a crime violated their rights to privacy and equal protection.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government has no business regulating what consenting adults do in their homes," Rudinger said.

That's not the "reality based" interpretation of the Lawrence opinion, but leave quibbling aside. Here we have a very old, seldom enforced (25 convictions out of a pool of nearly 119,000 "offenders" since 1997, the paper reports), dopey state law that's outgrown its utility. Perfect for legislative correction. Except that doesn't get the ACLU in the paper.

Mr. Justice Kennedy is getting loose in the bullpen.

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