Stay Out of My Lane

Locating the right to privacy in the common law and beyond

Bro. Bennett engaged me in a bit of Socratic dialogue: does one possess a right to privacy?

Yak Razors Bennett @NoLongerBennett

@ASFleischman Is the expectation of privacy a right?

When I replied that there was a right to privacy, particularly from the government, Mark further asked for a citation. I glibly replied with the text of the Fourth Amendment, which beings:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizure, shall not be violated…

As my Dearest and Constant Readers will know, I am an anti-formalist and believe textual readings of the Constitution are inappropriate, or at least substantially incomplete, to determine legality.

But the question remains: from whence comes the notion that we have a right to privacy? Let us see if we cannot answer this below the cut.