The
U.S. Supreme Court has found that the
Constitution implicitly grants a right to privacy against governmental intrusion. This right to privacy has been the justification for decisions involving a wide range of
civil liberties cases, including
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, which invalidated a successful 1922
Oregon initiative requiring compulsory
public education,
Griswold v. Connecticut, where a right to privacy was first established explicitly,
Roe v. Wade, which struck down a
Texas abortion law and thus restricted state powers to enforce laws against
abortion, and
Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a Texas
sodomy law and thus eliminated state powers to enforce laws against
sodomy.
An article in the December 15, 1890 issue of the
Harvard Law Review, written by attorney Samuel Warren and future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and entitled "The Right To Privacy", is often cited as the first implicit declaration of a U.S. right to privacy
[1]. This right is frequently debated.
Strict constructionists argue that no such right exists (or at least that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to protect such a right), while some civil libertarians argue that the right invalidates many types of currently allowed civil
surveillance (
wiretaps, public cameras, etc.).
Most states of the United States also grant a right to privacy and recognize four
torts based on that right:
- Intrusion upon seclusion or solitude, or into private affairs;
- Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts;
- Publicity which places a person in a false light in the public eye; and
- Appropriation of name or likeness.