Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
This is the clearest invocation of privacy interests, and therefore the bedrock for further inferences about the constitutional nature of privacy. To be secure in your "person, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" is the essence of privacy. Privacy interests are clearly important, but not sacred, and need not be afforded the same consideration as first amendment issues.
I think the sort of issues you are trying to make a matter of generalization are grounded in the right of conscience, which is grounded in the right of free exercise of religion, not privacy. If the state does not have a compelling interest in overriding what is, for the individual, the equivalent of a deeply held religious conviction, then it should stand. |
