Bill of Rights:
Right to Privacy

by Donald Burger, Attorney at Law

The Right to Privacy is not in the Bill of Rights. It is not in the other Amendments. Or in the Constitution itself. The US Supreme Court says the Right to Privacy is a penumbra right. That means its source is all the other rights taken together.

Some conservatives laugh at the Supreme Court for this position. For making law. For not following a strict construction of the Constitution. But such a criticism is short-sighted, to say the least. And it forgets that the Bill of Rights is not a list of rights granted individuals by the Government. It is a list of restrictions on government powers. Reread the Ninth Amendment if you have doubts.

The Right to Privacy is a fundamental affirmation of the rights of the individual over the rights of Government. The right to be let alone. The right to make one's own choices, without Big Brother snooping into those decisions. All advocates of liberty should be thankful that Courts give at least lip-service to such a right.

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