Also known as: right to personal privacy · personal privacy right · personal privacy rights · right to privacy · privacy right
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional protection of zones of privacy in intimate personal decisions and relationships. The protection emanates from penumbras of several Bill of Rights guarantees and subjects state interference with those zones to heightened scrutiny.
Rina Rahman and her husband live in a state that criminalizes possession of contraceptives by married persons. They purchase and use diaphragms in their home to plan their family. When prosecuted, they challenge the statute as an unconstitutional intrusion into their marital decisions. The court applies heightened scrutiny and invalidates the law because it directly burdens the protected zone of privacy surrounding intimate marital conduct.
Rowan Russell, a single woman, learns she is pregnant and seeks to terminate the pregnancy in a state that criminalizes nearly all abortions. She sues to enjoin enforcement of the statute. The court recognizes that the right of personal privacy encompasses the abortion decision yet weighs it against state interests in maternal health and potential life.
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Renata Russo, a married woman seeking an abortion, faces a state statute requiring her husband to receive notice before the procedure. She challenges the requirement as an undue burden on her privacy right. The court evaluates whether the rule places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking a pre-viability abortion.
Rajesh Rao and his wife challenge a state law that prohibits abortions after a certain point in pregnancy except to save the mother's life. The statute is defended as protecting potential life. The court examines whether the regulation survives the applicable standard of review for burdens on the privacy right.
Regina Robinson and her partner are arrested in their home for private consensual sexual conduct under a state sodomy law. They argue the statute violates their right to personal privacy in intimate relationships. The court considers whether the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause extends to such private adult conduct.
Ronald Reed lives with his granddaughter and great-grandson in a home zoned only for nuclear families. City officials threaten eviction under the ordinance. He challenges the restriction as an unconstitutional interference with family privacy rights. The court assesses whether the zoning rule impermissibly burdens protected choices concerning family living arrangements.
The right emanates from penumbras of the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments as incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment. These guarantees collectively shield intimate marital and personal decisions from unwarranted state intrusion.
The privacy right protects individual reproductive decisions irrespective of marital status. State classifications that burden access to contraception based on marital status violate equal protection principles derived from the same privacy doctrine.
Conditioning substantial government benefits on a pledge to abstain from contraception invades the protected marital privacy zone. Such programs trigger heightened scrutiny because they pressure couples to surrender core intimate choices in exchange for financial support.
State action that directly burdens married couples' contraceptive choices receives heightened scrutiny. The state must demonstrate a compelling interest and narrow tailoring. Generalized policy preferences such as encouraging larger families do not suffice.
…Pp. 129-166. 4. The Texas abortion laws, as they are written, are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. Pp. 164-166. 5. The right of personal privacy includes the abortion decision, but that right is not unqualified and must be considered against important state interests in regulation. Pp. 152-166. (a) The Constitution does not…