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The Court first enunciated the right to privacy in Griswold vs. Connecticut, a 1965 case in which the Court ruled unconstitutional a Connecticut birth-control law. Justice Douglas, writing for the majority, argued (plausibly enough) that marriage was so important that the state had no business interfering with the privacy fundamental to a healthy relationship between husband and wife.

"We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights - older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred."

While privacy is not among the rights explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has nevertheless ruled that a fundamental right to privacy is clearly found in the penumbra (shadow) of the First Amendment. Or the shadow of the Third Amendment. Or the Fourth. Or the Fifth. Or the Ninth. Or maybe it's the Fourteenth. Or perhaps it emanates from all of them; it's hard to tell with shadows.Daily Cnservative