Court Decision

The Supreme Court's refusal to hear a homosexual discrimination case will not have a great impact on future legal decisions, two Harvard law professors said yesterday.

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the appeal of James Gaylord, a Washington State high school teacher who was fired in 1972 when school officials learned of his homosexuality.

The Washington State Supreme Court had ruled earlier that homosexuals act immorally and can therefore be fired from their jobs.

Alan Dershowitz, professor of Law, said there can be a "danger in reading too much into Supreme Court decisions." He added that the court may have decided to hear the case for a variety of reasons, including popular opinion.

Laurence H. Tribe '62, professor of Law, said, "The rights of adults to determine their own sexual preferences remains unresolved." He said he found Court's decision "disappointing, but not surprising."

Dershowitz said that despite the ruling, he is "confident the court in future years will find discrimination based on sexual preferences unconstitutional."