Court Opinion

ID: 9426663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:18:36.945256+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:02.261465
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stewart,
concurring.
In Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347, the Court made clear that although the Constitution affords protection against certain kinds of government intrusions into personal and private matters,* there is no “general constitutional ‘right to *608privacy.’ . . . [T]he protection of a person’s general right to privacy — his right to be let alone by other people — is, like the protection of his property and of his very life, left largely to the law of the individual States.” Id., at 350-351 (footnote omitted).
Mr. Justice Brennan’s concurring . opinion states that "[b]road dissemination by state officials of [the information collected by New York State] . . . would clearly implicate constitutionally protected privacy rights . . . .” Ante, at 606. The only possible support in his opinion for this statement is its earlier reference to two footnotes in the Court’s opinion, ibid., citing ante, at 598-600, and nn. 24r-25 (majority opinion). The footnotes, however, cite to only two Court opinions, and those two cases do not support the proposition advanced by Mr. Justice Brennan.
The first case referred to, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, held that a State cannot constitutionally prohibit a married couple from using contraceptives in the privacy of their home. Although the broad language of the opinion includes a discussion of privacy, see id., at 484-485, the constitutional protection there discovered also related to (1) marriage, see id., at 485-486; id., at 495 (Goldberg, J., concurring); id., at *609500 (Harlan, J., concurring in judgment), citing Poe v. Ullman, 367 U. S. 497, 522 (Harlan, J., dissenting); 381 U. S., at 502-503 (White, J., concurring in judgment); (2) privacy in the home, see id., at 484-485 (majority opinion); id., at 495 (Goldberg, J., concurring); id., at 500 (Harlan, J., concurring in judgment), citing Poe v. Ullman, supra, at 522 (Harlan, J., dissenting); and (3) the right to use contraceptives, see 381 U. S., at 503 (White, J., concurring in judgment); see also Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, 169-170 (Stewart, J., concurring). Whatever the ratio decidendi of Griswold, it does not recognize a general interest in freedom from disclosure of private information.
The other case referred to, Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557, held that an individual cannot constitutionally be prosecuted for possession of obscene materials in his home. Although Stanley makes some reference to privacy rights, id., at 564, the holding there was simply that the First Amendment — as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth — protects a person’s right to read what he chooses in circumstances where that choice poses no threat to the sensibilities or welfare of others, id., at 565-568.
Upon the understanding that nothing the Court says today is contrary to the above views, I join its opinion and judgment.

See 389 U. S., at 350 n. 5:
“The First Amendment, for example, imposes limitations upon govern*608mental abridgment of ‘freedom to associate and privacy in one’s association.’ NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U. S. 449, 462. The Third Amendment’s prohibition against the unconsented peacetime quartering of soldiers protects another aspect of privacy from governmental intrusion. To some extent, the Fifth Amendment too ‘reflects the Constitution’s concern for . the right of each individual ‘to a private enclave where he may lead a private life.'’ ” ’ Tehan v. Shott, 382 U. S. 406, 416. Virtually every governmental action interferes with personal privacy to some degree. The question in each case is whether that interference violates a command of the United States Constitution.”
As the Court notes, ante, at 599-600, and n. 26, there is also a line of authority, often characterized as involving “privacy,” affording constitutional protection to the autonomy of an individual or a family unit in making decisions generally relating to marriage, procreation, and raising children.