Originally posted by Graham:
Actually, I think he is right.
There is nothing in the Constitution that ever says the word, "privacy."
That is true, there is not one mention of the word "privacy."
The Constitution outlines what the Government can do, not what the American people can do.
You don't really see anything about Rights until the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution.
In other words, the Constitution lays out, specifically, what the Governemnt can tell the American people they can and cannot do. Everything else that isn't specified, is up to the States and the people.
"(The right to privacy is a person's) right to be left alone by the government... the right most valued by civilized men."
- Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
1973 Roe v. Wade was decided on the "Right to Privacy."
The Fourth Amendment protects us from federal government intrusion.
The Fourteenth Amendment protects us from state and local government intrusion. The actual text enforcing this: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." Therefore, since the federal government cannot do unreasonable search and seizure, neither can the states.
Thomas can ignore previous cases if he wants, but the court has ruled many times that individuals do indeed have a "right to privacy" under the fourth and fourteenth amendments.
EDITED TO ADD:
Several Amendments have been used to support the right to privacy:
First Amendment in NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449,462.
Third and Fifth Amendments in Tehan v. Shott, 382 U.S. 406,416.
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"Nature has constituted utility to man the standard and test of virtue. Men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits and regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, may be useful and consequently virtuous in one country which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced" - Thomas Jefferson, moral relativist
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