The right of Americans to individual privacy has increasingly become an issue of national significance. Partly due to leaks of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program by government contractor, Edward Snowden, American citizens’ basic right to privacy has become a subject of national debate. Not only is privacy a Constitutional Right, the right to privacy is a fundamental human right that no government should violate. Through these lenses, federal surveillance for national security purposes, invasive laws that affect our bodies, and telecommunications monitoring should be called into question, and rescinded.
The US Constitution’s Bill of Rights guarantees a number of civil liberties to Americans. Simply put, the Fourth Amendment guarantees, among other privacy rights, that Americans are free from “unreasonable searches and seizures” (Cornell University Law School). Therefore, it follows that a national wiretapping surveillance program is unconstitutional. According to Savage & Weisman, the NSA’s secret surveillance program of innocent Americans was ruled illegal in 2015 by a New York federal appeals court. The court’s decision made it clear that the NSA’s warrantless spying program is illegal, and that telecommunications companies are not legally bound to hand over bulk data to the government. Certainly, it makes sense to track down and prosecute terrorists, but the NSA’s program may be a contributing factor to widespread anti-government sentiment. The program clearly infringes upon our constitutional rights, and negates the right of Americans to enjoy a fundamental, global liberty – the right to privacy.
Secondly, women must have the right to make informed decisions about what to do with their bodies. Thus, anti-abortion laws – so-called pro-life laws -- can be broadly categorized as unconstitutional. In Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the right of women to have abortions in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy (McBride). The ruling referred to the individual’s “zone of privacy”, stating that Jane Roe’s right to privacy -- protected by the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment – was violated (McBride). Moreover, the Supreme Court argued that the Texas Federal Court that ruled against Ms. Roe also violated her First, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights (McBride). When the government begins to dictate what anyone does to their bodies, the agenda can easily become a slippery slope, begging the question: at which point should the government not be allowed to make a person’s decisions? In spite of refutations, such as the legal rights of the unborn fetus, this argument is fundamentally sound.
Lastly, telecommunications monitoring, which is somewhat similar to illegal federal surveillance, is unconstitutional. Again, the Fourth Amendment protects American citizens from warrantless wire-tapping, under the so-called Fourth Amendment Warrant Clause, which also encompasses electronic surveillance via the internet. Unless there are circumstances that are described as “exigent”, a warrant is not needed prior to intercepting internet communications. Unfortunately, the government appears to have done little to clarify this ambiguous term.
Finally, privacy is both a fundamental right that our Founding Fathers deemed so important that they also wrote and passed our Bill of Rights. Innocent Americans should not be scrutinized, and spied on without a government warrant. Unquestionably, the government bears much of the responsibility to protect us from enemies such as terrorists, but massive surveillance of every American presumes everyone is already a terrorist. The scenario can only breed fear, paranoia, and further distrust of our government. Almost all Supreme Court rulings have argued that the rights of the people to their privacy trump the right of any government to violate those rights. Fundamentally, the human right to privacy is not something any government should infringe upon.
Works Cited
Cornell University Law School. Legal Information Institute. n.d. Web. 17 May, 2016.
McBride, Alex. The Supreme Court. PBS.org. 2007. Web. 17 May, 2016.
Savage, Charlie, & Weisman, Jonathan. “N.S.A. Collection of Bulk Call Data Is Ruled Illegal.” The New York Times. 07 May, 2015. Web. 17 May, 2016.
