How Would You Word a Right to Privacy in the Constitution?

[danarhea]

We all know about the "penumbra" of clauses in the Constitution that the Supreme Court uses to claim a right to privacy. If there were to be a specific amendment to define the right to privacy, how would you word it?

Amendment XVIII - The executive branch, after covertly installing spy cameras in a person's home, shall not use them to watch their person of interest while he or she is butt naked, unless granted a secret surveillance warrant, co-signed by a FISA Court and Larry Flynt.

 

[celticlord]

We all know about the "penumbra" of clauses in the Constitution that the Supreme Court uses to claim a right to privacy. If there were to be a specific amendment to define the right to privacy, how would you word it?

Do we even have a workable meaning of "privacy"?

Without a clear concept of "privacy", it is next to impossible to argue whether or not one should have a right to such privacy.

 

[ShamMol]

I think the 4th and 5th amendment cover it well enough.

...and 14th and 9th...

Do we even have a workable meaning of "privacy"?

Without a clear concept of "privacy", it is next to impossible to argue whether or not one should have a right to such privacy.

Privacy is the ability of an individual to be secure in their person and to make determinations about their individual actions. It's wordy, but it covers most of everything we need.

 

[celticlord]

Privacy is the ability of an individual to be secure in their person and to make determinations about their individual actions. It's wordy, but it covers most of everything we need.

Is this something that even should be a right? Keep in mind, theft, murder, rape, and other crimes are, strictly speaking, "individual actions".

If anything, privacy is the boundary between what is necessarily public and what is intrinsically personal. As such, privacy may not be a "right" per se, but rather the consequence of the overall body of individual rights.