The Rights Of The United States - 1635 Words

It is nearly impossible to comprehend the overwhelming changes the United States has endured over the past 200 years, spanning from 1787 when the Constitution was created, all the way up until today. In the present, new issues arise that would have been unpredictable to the three dozen or so men who attended the Constitutional Convention over two centuries ago. Now in 2014, America is confronted with a myriad of complex issues that the Founding Fathers would never have been able to perceive or address appropriately. Issues of racial and gender inequality, minority rights, due process, the equal protection clause, and countless other problems that plague America today would have been unpredictable when Constitution was written. The†¦show more content†¦The concept of privacy has been pivotal in many Supreme Court decisions, all due to a more liberal interpretation of the Constitution and its Amendments. Throughout the early twentieth century, there were many cases that foresh adowed the right to privacy. However, the case most paramount to enacting the concept was Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 case that developed privacy through a series of penumbras, or zones in the Constitution that corroborate implied rights. Griswold, a director for the Planned Parenthood Connecticut league, was convicted under a Connecticut law for giving medical instruction and advice on birth control to married couples. In a 7-2 decision, the Court voted in favor of Griswold, and claimed the Constitution protected couples from state laws that interfered with the counsel and use of contraceptives. Justice William Douglas, writing for the majority, argued that the right to privacy was the right to be free of government interference, and cited the Fifth Amendment’s incrimination clause to heighten his argument. Traditionally, the self-incrimination clause was used to protect citizens from criminal persecution, mainly during periods of interrogation. In his opinion, Douglas broadened the traditional constraints of the clause in order to provide a viable argument as to why privacy should be an implied right. In his