Analyzing Parallels Between Uganda and US Law in the Context of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023

The Moynihan Institute and the Law in World Affairs series presents Busingye Kabumba, director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), and senior lecturer in law at Makerere University.

The American experiment in democracy has long inspired and influenced a number of jurisdictions around the world, including Uganda. The decisions of U.S. courts, particularly the Supreme Court, are often cited by Ugandan courts—with mainly positive results. It is thus appropriate to analyze the 2024 decision of the Ugandan Constitutional Court in Hon. Fox Odoi and Others v Attorney General, which broadly upheld the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, within the prism of one of America’s most infamous decisions—the 1857 case of Dred Scott v Sandford. This comparison is additionally invited by the Ugandan judiciary itself which, in a press release announcing Fox Odoi, expressly cited the 2022 decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It is in this context, and in light of the surprising parallels between Fox Odoi and Dred Scott, that the Ugandan decision (currently on appeal to the Supreme Court) will be analyzed.

Busingye Kabumba Ph.D. is director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), and senior lecturer in law at Makerere University, where he has taught Public Law for over 15 years. He has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Uganda as being widely researched and highly experienced with regard to constitutionalism, human rights and good governance. He has litigated ground-breaking cases before the Constitutional Court of Uganda, and his published work has been cited by the High Court in a number of cases. His main current research enquiry is the relationship between power and vulnerability. E-mail: busingye.kabumba@mak.ac.ug