Right of Privacy

Question 1

Olmstead v. U.S. (1928)

Answer 1

Olmstead was an experience bootleggers and violated the National Prohibition laws. Agents wiretapped his phone and charged him. The Supreme Court ruled that the wiretapping did not fall within the coverage of the Fourth Amendment Right because it did not involve a physical entry.

Question 2

Katz v. U.S. (1967)

Answer 2

Katz was an interstate gambler and the feds put a microphone onto two phone booths that he normally uses and they charged him with gambling off of those tapes. The Supreme Court ruled that the fourth amendment protects people not places. This case overturned Olmstead. It also created the two-prong test: “the reasonable expectation of privacy” test- 1. a person has exhibited an actual expectation of privacy and 2. the expectation is reasonable

Question 3

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Answer 3

President of Planned Parenthood set up a RV in front of Yale’s college campus to handout pamphlets about birth control to married couples. She was then arrested for counseling a married couple about contraception. The Supreme Court ruled for Griswold because it violate the right to martial privacy.

Question 4

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 4

Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woman’s life. The Supreme Court held that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 5

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Answer 5

Lawrence and Garner were arrested and convicted of sexual intercourse in violation of a Texas statute forbidding two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct. The Court held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the 14th Amendment.

Question 6

Vernonia v. Acton

Answer 6

Vernonia School District of Oregon adopted the Student Athlete Drug Policy which authorizes random urinalysis drug testing of its student athletes. James Acton, a student, was denied participation in his school’s football program when he and his parents refused to consent to the testing. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of random drug testing regimen implemented by the local public schools in Vernonia.