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Cite as:  562 U. S. ____ (2011) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 09–530 
_________________ 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMIN- 

ISTRATION, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 

ROBERT M. NELSON ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

[January 19, 2011] 

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
In two cases decided more than 30 years ago, this Court 
referred  broadly  to  a  constitutional  privacy  “interest  in
avoiding  disclosure  of  personal  matters.”    Whalen  v.  Roe, 
429  U. S.  589,  599–600  (1977);  Nixon  v.  Administrator  of 
General Services, 433 U. S. 425, 457 (1977).  Respondents
in  this  case,  federal  contract  employees  at  a  Government
laboratory, claim that two parts of a standard employment
background 
investigation  violate  their  rights  under 
Whalen  and  Nixon.  Respondents  challenge  a  section  of  a 
form  questionnaire  that  asks  employees  about  treatment
or counseling for recent illegal-drug use.  They also object 
to certain open-ended questions on a form sent to employ-
ees’ designated references. 

We  assume,  without  deciding,  that  the  Constitution 
protects  a  privacy  right  of  the  sort  mentioned  in  Whalen 
and  Nixon.  We  hold,  however,  that  the  challenged  por-
tions of the Government’s background check do not violate
this right in the present case.  The Government’s interests 
as  employer  and  proprietor  in  managing  its  internal  op-