Privacy and Other Rights

The Constitution does not contain the words "right to privacy." But, especially in the twentieth century, many Americans would begin to consider this, in the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, "the most comprehensive of rights and the most highly valued by civilized man." Modern technology--cameras, telephones, listening devices, computers--all contributed to making many citizens feel as though they were at least potentially under surveillance. Similarly, citizens are keenly aware that government, corporations, schools, doctors' offices, and other organizations maintain substantial records on citizens, consumers, students, and patients. Further, changing standards of personal morality, especially concerning sexual relations, made more Americans feel that government should not attempt to regulate intimate aspects of citizens' lives.

Many of the key cases concerning the right to privacy dealt with intimate matters such as sexuality and reproduction. The Supreme Court declared the existence of a right to privacy in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), striking down a state law that prohibited the distribution of contraceptives or information concerning contraceptives. According to the Court's opinion, the right to privacy, while not specifically in the Constitution, was "older than the Bill of Rights." In 1973, the Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, which protected a woman's right to obtain an abortion in the first months of pregnancy, was also predicated largely on the right to privacy.