good evening. reporter: good evening to you. people on both sides of this issue are calling it the most significant gay rights issue ever. the government cannot use moral grounds to make private sexual conduct illegal. the ruling was 6-3. justices antoine antoine scalia thomas and the another no longer alive. and rick perry thought he should be president on defense of that rule with regulating the kind of sex you and your partner are allowed to have in your own home. pennsylvania state senator rick santorum also took that position in the campaign. that call to limited government and personal liberty was not enough to propel either of them to the presidency. another big gay civil rights case making its way to the courts that may very well end up
there is a new book out that casts doubt whether or not mr. lawrence and mr. garner were actually having sex when police burst into mr. lawrence s apartment and arrested them. in any case that is what they were charged with, two consenting adults charged with having a kind of tex illegal in texas. in 1998, when they were arrested, mr. lawrence and mr. garner both vowed to contest the fine they were charged and to appeal their case and did all the way to the united states supreme court. in june 1993, nearly five years after they were arrested, the supreme court quashed the case against them, struck down the texas law. until today, it was legal for individual states to at least try to legislate what went on in the bedroom. not anymore homosexual conduct is no longer a crime. nbc news justice correspond pete williams is with us from the court tonight. good evening. reporter: good evening to you. people on both sides of this issue are calling it the most significant gay rights issue
mistress? thank you, thomas. president obama will carefully avoid a hot button gay rights issue in north carolina later today. two week from now the state will hold a public referendum on amendment 1, one of the toughest anti-gay measures in the country. it would amend the state constitution to ban civil unions and domestic partnerships. joining me is senior political editor mark murray. good morning. good morning. the campaign has come out against amendment 1. why side step it today? i think what you re trying to see president obama, they re trying to reach out to voters that they need to be able to get to the polls and a lot of times when you hit general election mode it is all about the swing voters, the people who decide elections and so president obama and his white house has made the calculation that people who make gay rights their number one issue are already voting for president obama or maybe not voting for mitt romney and you look at the president s records on gay ra
gas prices overnight jumped 3.3 cents a gallon on fears iranian oil, the world s fourth biggest stash of crude, could be disrupted. if iran made good on its threats to halt oil supplies, which it s promised to do, it would hurt consumers around the world. the strike team says it would send the united states into another recession with gas prices possibly hitting $4.75 a gallon, but it would also devastate iran. 80% of the nation s economy is linked to oil and gas. will it come to this? rudy giuliani was mayor of new york city during 9/11 and he comes outfront tonight. good to see you. nice to be here. let me start with this issue of the rhetoric here. do you think it s going to get to the point where iran feels threatened enough to do something like shut off its crude oil supplies? i do. it does have a devastating impact on them. they re very good at threatening. the threat i think you have to take as a real one and as we ratchet up pressure on them, they may very wel
talking a toll. gas prices overnight jumped 3.3 cents a gallon. on fears iranian oil, which is the world s fourth biggest stash of crude, could be disrunted. if they made good on their promise to halt the crude, it would hurt consumers around the world. jim beonco said it would send the united states into another recession with gas prices possibly hitting $4.75 a gallon. the move would also devastate iran. sources tell us 80% of that nation s economy is linked to oil and natural gas. will iran do this, will it come to this? mayor rudy jewgiuliani was mayon new york on 9/11. let me start with the rhetoric. do you think it s going to get to point where iran feels threatened enough to shut off the crude oil? i do. i m not sure they will because it has a devastating impact on them. they re vargood at threatening. the threat you have to take as a real 1, and as we ratchet up the pressure on them, they may very well take the step to see what kind of pressure they can put on us. a