Ctrl+F and look at privacy mentions in Dobbs v. Jackson available at
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/597/19-1392/
. The whole text of the opinion/concurrences/dissent is something
like 213 pages if you read it all! But we will only read a little.
First
off, to set the stage... one of the rights that was the basis for Roe
v. Wade was a "penumbra of privacy" in the U.S. Constitution.
To understand changes to that right, we all go to Dobbs v. Jackson at
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/597/19-1392/
and look at references to privacy. I think that the best way to break
it down is to look at the links at the top to "Syllabus, Opinion,
Concurrence, Dissent", ctrl+F for "priva" in each one, and read just the
paragraphs that mention privacy.
Here's what those sections are and what it means:
Syllabus
= Not binding. A short summary of the case. Has no impact on anything
and it's just there to give context to the whole long 213 page case.
We don't need to look at this, since only a little piece of the case is
about privacy.
Opinion (Alito) = Binding law. This is the most important part. This is what the law is now.
Concurrence (Thomas) = Not binding. Can be used to make an argument. This one was written by judge Thomas.
Concurrence (Kavanaugh) = Not binding. Can be used to make an argument. This one was written by judge Kavanaugh.
Concurrence (Roberts) = Not binding. Can be used to make an argument. This one was written by judge Roberts.
Dissent (Kagan) = Not binding.
For the reading, we can click into each tab for Opinion/Concurrence/Dissent at
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/597/19-1392/
and ctrl+F for "priva". There are 23 references to privacy throughout
all 213 pages of the opinion/concurrences/dissent, so it's a short
reading if we focus on privacy.
Essentially, there are 2 privacy
rights: (1) not having info known, and (2) not having behavior
changed. Dobbs v. Jackson is about privacy as not having behavior
changed and weakening that privacy right. It's a right that is probably
more important today with some systems that can predict and influence
behavior than it was in the 1970s.