Fourth Amendment Research Paper

We all claim it; we all assume that it is one of the rights we possess as Americans. But the right to privacy is more difficult to define, and less explicitly protected than other rights guaranteed to us. The word “privacy” does not even appear in the Constitution, leading some legal scholars to deny that a Constitutional right to exists. So, is the right of privacy consider by the Constitution? This is what Professor mentioned in his speech which was held on 17th sept 2015 in Collin College at 6 pm. In his speech he mentioned how different amendments and different cases support right to privacy. There are many historical court cases dealing with the issue of privacy; some have become landmark cases that have shaped a whole new attitude about …show more content…
Connecticut (1965). Estelle Griswold, a director of a family clinic, and Dr. Lee Buxton, a physician at the clinic were convicted of violating a state law prohibiting any distribution or advice about contraception to married couples. The accused believed the law invaded the private aspects of the people. In his ruling Justice Douglas stated “. specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emotions from those guarantees that help give them life and substance.” That means the right to birth control can by no means be expected to be covered in a document written in 1791, yet the right to it can be implied by the power of the Ninth Amendment. This was Madison’s reasoning behind including the amendment, so it would always be able to cover our rights. There was an overabundance of controversy on the ruling. Most of the argument was the inventing of freedoms. In any case Griswold’s fight was monumental in the battle for …show more content…
Wade (1973). This case was about a woman from Texas who believed a Texas law preventing women from getting an abortion, unless her life was in danger if she went through with the birth, unconstitutional. The main objective was to “…determine the limits of federal court authority in reviewing state court proceedings (Wool,276).Justice Douglas, who also ruled in Griswold vs. Connecticut, played a key role in these proceedings. Douglas’ objective was to get a ruling on abortion, not federal power over states. His feelings were the Government should have no control over a woman’s body. Douglas was delegated the task of writing the Court’s Opinion on the case. It was up to Douglas to win the decision of the other Justices. After many drafts of his proposal, and many rejections from Chief Justice Warren Burger, Douglas was able to win over the ruling. The final solution was to forbid states to regulate abortions in the first trimester, give them the choice to regulate in the second, and the power to ban it in the third. Abortion was a politician’s nightmare, for good reason. Abortion is a deep-rooted issue that can be taken the wrong way very easily. The Government was given the job of deciding for a woman whether or not it was legal to kill a fetus. The Government did not want to prohibit a woman from doing what she wanted with her body, but with such a heartfelt topic there are moral issues that the Government could not control, let