Debra Cassens Weiss discusses today’s Supreme Court opinion in NASA v. Nelson with a focus on the court’s statements about whether there is a constitutional right to information privacy:
“We assume, without deciding, that the Constitution protects a privacy right of the sort” mentioned in two 1977 Supreme Court decisions, Alito wrote. “We hold, however, that the challenged portions of the government’s background check do not violate this right in the present case.”
The decision was 8-0, with a concurrence written by Justice Antonin Scalia and joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, SCOTUSblog reports. The concurrence argued there is no informational right to privacy.
“Like many other desirable things not included in the Constitution, ‘informational privacy’ seems like a good idea.” Scalia wrote. “But it is up to the people to enact those laws, to shape them, and, when they think it appropriate, to repeal them. A federal constitutional right to ‘informational privacy’ does not exist.”
Read more on ABAJournal.