Right_to_Privacy

The Supreme Court is a peculiar organization in American politics. Our representative democratic government specifically reserves substantial authority for a judicial body that is not elected or subject to popular recall. The Supreme Court has substantial authority for a judicial body that is not elected or subject to popular recall and I believe that the Supreme Court has shown time and time again that it has the up-most intentions on using this authority wisely. “Above the west portico of the Supreme Court building are inscribed the words EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. At the opposite end of the building above the east portico, are the words JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY.” (Janda, Berry, and Goldman, 2008: 433). The Supreme Court is faced every day with the incredible task of upholding the Constitution and making sure that both justice and freedom are the basis for every decision they make. On average, the Supreme Court only accepts between 110-130 cases a year, that’s between 1-2% of all cases proposed to them. Of those 110-130 cases, nearly every one of them has gone through both State and Federal courts to reach the Supreme Court’s docket. A case usually makes it to the Supreme Court level because it touches on issues that are not clearly defined in the Constitution and it is up to the Supreme Court to interpret that particular issue in a manner they see best fit to uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of American Citizens. “The justices of the Supreme Court exercise real political power” (Janda, Berry, and Goldman, 2008: 440), and some assume that they just attempt to stamp their own policy views on the cases they review but for a case to reach the Supreme Court’s docket it must pose difficult choices and because the justices are grappling with conflict on a daily basis, they most likely have well-defined ideologies that reflect their values. The Supreme Court is the final stop for cases and although they are faced with the incredibly tough task of trying to interpret the Constitution into law, just over 56% of their final decisions have agreed with majority public opinion in the past ten years^1. Because the Supreme Court confronts issues freighted with deeply felt social values, its decisions have sometimes influenced beyond immediate parties in dispute. An example of this is the interpretation of the right to privacy. The right to privacy is a fundamental right established in the Bill of Rights by way of the Constitution. There are three cases that stick out in Supreme Court history that helped establish this right, the first of which is the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. Griswold v. Connecticut was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives. The Supreme Court invalidated the law by a vote of 7-2 on the grounds that it violated the right to marital privacy. The court ruled that the statute forbidding use of contraceptives violates the right of marital privacy which is within the penumbra of specific guarantees of the Bill of Rights.” According to Justice Douglas, who wrote the majority opinion, “the rights people have are more than what can be read in the literal language of the constitutional text.” Justice Douglas argued that “several specific guarantees in the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments create a zone of privacy, and that zone is protected by the Ninth Amendment and is applicable to the states by the due process clause of the fourteenth Amendment.” (Janda, Berry, and Goldman, 2008: 485). Justice Douglas’s legacy will forever be the founder of the “right to privacy,” and I believe the Supreme Court has done an extraordinary job up holding it. Unknown at the time but Griswold v. Connecticut helped lay the groundwork for one of the most debated Supreme Court cases to date, Roe v. Wade, but before we get to Roe v. Wade we must first look at a case out of Georgia that took place in 1969, Stanley v. Georgia. Stanley v. Georgia was the first court case to come in front of the Supreme Court since Griswold v. Connecticut and in my opinion helped the Supreme Court reinforce their original findings of the right to privacy, in Griswold v. Connecticut. Stanley v. Georgia was centered around Robert Stanley, who believed his right to privacy was violated when police were serving a search warrant for unrelated charges and found pornographic material in a desk drawer on the second floor of Stanleys house. Later Mr. Stanley was charged with the possession of obscene materials, a crime under Georgia law. The conviction was originally upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Later the Supreme Court, by way of Justice Marshall unanimously overturned the earlier decision and abolished all state laws that forbid PRIVATE possession of materials. The court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibited making private possession of obscene materials a crime. Justice Marshall was quoted saying that “the rights to receive information and to personal privacy were fundamental to a free society,” (oyez.org, 2010). Just 4 years after Stanley v. Georgia, the Supreme Court was handed, what would be one of the most important and controversial cases in their history, Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade is one of the most debated issues today. Roe v. Wade was centered on Norma McCorver, who was filing a suit alleging that the abortion law in Texas violated her constitutional rights. The defendant in the case was the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, Henry B. Wade. After much debate the court held that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy, which is protected by the 14th Amendment. Nearly 40 years later, Roe v. Wade is still one of the most heavily debated issues in today. The opinion set forth guidelines for state abortion regulations; states could restrict a woman’s right to choose only in the later stages of the pregnancy. Although later modified but not overruled, the decision stands as one of the courts most controversial to date. The Roe v. Wade decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and also defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. Roe v. Wade was decided primarily on the Ninth Amendment, stating that “the enumeration of the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people,” protected a person’s right to privacy and is applicable to the states by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. Roe v. Wade helped establish that the principle that the Bill of Rights as a whole creates a right to make certain intimate, personal choices, including the right of married people to engage in sexual intercourse for reproduction or pleasure, (Janda, Berry, and Goldman, 2008: 485). This zone of personal autonomy, protected by the Constitution was the basis for Roe v. Wade, and established just eight years earlier in the Griswold v. Connecticut decision. The three cases listed above all center on the “right to privacy,” which was established by way of Griswold v. Connecticut, and without the Supreme Court’s influence on the policy surrounding the three previous cases both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights worth would be much less than what it is now. The Supreme Court was established in the Constitution with one rule above all and that is to protect the Constitution. Although the Constitution is not always as black and white as most of us would want, the Supreme Court has done an impeccable job protecting it and in doing so the rights and liberties of the American people.