The never-repealed laws banning same-sex marriage & sodomy are now a ticking time bomb

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a woman’s right to choose is a reminder that state and local penal codes are littered with lots of regulations rendered moot by court rulings. Like a filing cabinet that’s never cleaned out, these dead laws just sit there collecting dust, presumably never to be heard of again.

What the Supreme Court ruling highlights is that laws on the books are never entirely dead. Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin all have old laws on the books banning abortion pre-dating the original Roe v. Wade decision in 1972. The states never got around to removing the laws and now are grappling with the possibility that the laws, dating back to 1882 in West Virginia’s case, will take effect.