Privacy
The earliest development in the privacy rights front first came up with the formation of FBI; the FBI used many ways to access the information they need for their investigative and intelligence functionalities. This involves the tapping of people’s offices and homes with neither their consent nor knowledge. Many judges did not find this as infringing on either the Fifth or the Fourth Amendment. Nevertheless, Judge Brandeis did not flow with the rest. He opined that people should be given their privacy and their homes not intruded by the government.
In the case Lochner v New York, an owner of a bakery sought to dispute the requirement that stated that employees would work 10 hours a day and a maximum of 60 a week, he argued this as a case of privacy infringement. In the judgement a record five of nine judges opined that the state was not in a position to interfere with agreements between employees and their employers.
Judge Harlan transformed the privacy debate in his decision in the case of Poe v Ullman. This case involved a doctor disputing the application of birth control pills alternatively to contraceptives. Even though the case was declared technically null and void on grounds regarding procedure, he asserted that the law needed to be abolished with regard to substantive due process that is upheld by the law.
The works and thoughts of Harlan sprouted the need to consider both privacy and liberty in one piece. He also raised the need to disrepute the substantive due process doctrine which was being applied on virtually all the cases at the time. The opinions of Judge Harlan were not taken into serious consideration at first and later in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), his opinions became subject formed a cornerstone of the debate. In this case a woman in Connecticut was brought was sued for opening a store that sold birth control drugs t married couples, she was sued for violation of the right to ‘liberty.’
Justice Douglas affirmed that privacy was not explicitly covered for in law and its bits were spread out in penumbras. Different judges held different positions as to the issue and to the Amendment that covered privacy explaining the reason why Justice Douglas called them penumbras. Justice Arthur pointed to the Ninth Amendment, Justice Harlan and Justice Byron to the Fourteenth’s clause that covered due process. However, Justice Hugo Black and Potter Stewart disagreed with existence of the whole idea of privacy and its existence in the constitution. Since the ruling of the case, Griswold v. Connecticut, privacy has been protected with this case as a precedent. In a case, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), a woman’s volition on whether or not to have an abortion was safeguarded, the decision, the case ruled was to be between the woman and her doctor.
References
Alderman, E., & Kennedy, C. (1995). The right to privacy. New York: Knopf.
Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
Epstein, L., & Walker, T. G. (2011). Constitutional law for a changing America: Institutional powers and constraints. Washington, D.C: CQ Press.
