Joanne R. Pompano
Constitutional Principles that Provide for the Right to Privacy
The U.S. Constitution does not specifically grant individuals the right to privacy. In fact, the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution. However, the right to privacy in the United States is a concept recognized by the principles embodied in the Federal Constitution and by courts and lawmaking bodies.
The Supreme Court has recognized that the Constitution protects different aspects of individual privacy. The right of privacy in U.S. Constitutional law is commonly provided by the First, Fourth, and Fifth amendments. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures; the First and Fifth protects an individual's freedom to be autonomous.
The Fourth Amendment provides the strongest guarantee to privacy in the Constitution. The Fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. It protects the right of people to be secure in their persons, places, papers, and effects from unwarranted searches and seizures from the government.
Traditionally the right to privacy focused on protection from intrusion by the government into an individual's house or property that resulted in measurable injury. However, in 1890, the Harvard Review published an article by Louis Brandies and Samuel Warren entitled “The Right to Privacy.” This article was influential in the way federal courts began to interpret constitutional principles concerning privacy rights. (1) The Courts have broadened their scope recognizing that an individual’s right to privacy is implicit in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (2)
The right of privacy began to be recognized as a legal concept in U.S. constitutional law and in the law of torts. Tort law asserts a right of an individual to recover damages for unjustifiable invasions of privacy.