Right To Privacy Argument

In the United States, the right to privacy is a legal argument used in cases involving public and private actions that are deemed a threat to the privacy of an individual. The origin of the right to privacy argument is often attributed to the U.S. constitution specifically the fourth amendment. According to the constitution scholar Peter Irons ( 2006) in addition to the fourth amendment, the first, third, fifth and ninth amendments included specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights that created zones of privacy that prohibit the government from intruding on the rights of individuals without showing proper cause. Historically right to privacy has been used in cases involving foreign and domestic terrorism, wiretapping, potential human rights violations, unlawful detention, abortion rights, police searches, and the regulation of sexual acts.
Like Irons many constitutional scholars share the belief that the concept of right to privacy comes from the U.S. Constitution, however there are some scholars who disagree and maintain the belief that the concept of “right to privacy” has no constitutional anchor (Irons, 2006, p.445). In the 1970’s, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Harry Blackmun used the controversy to draft the court’s opinion in Roe vs. Wade.
To determine if the concept of privacy had …show more content…
Proponents and Opponents of the right to privacy argument understand its importance but they disagree on whether the right to privacy should supersede the right to collective safety. Whether it is the abortion issue or human rights issues, the relevance and significance of the right to privacy legal precedence will remain a formidable issue among members of the legal community, the public and civil liberties