1. Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S.

479 (1965)

Facts:

In 1879, Connecticut passed a law (Connecticut "Comstock law") that banned the use of any drug,
medical device, or other instrument in furthering contraception. A gynecologist at the Yale School of
Medicine, C. Lee Buxton, opened a birth control clinic in New Haven in conjunction with Estelle
Griswold, who was the head of Planned Parenthood in Connecticut. They were arrested and convicted
of violating the law, and their convictions were affirmed by higher state courts. Their plan was to use
the clinic to challenge the constitutionality of the statute under the Fourteenth Amendment before
the Supreme Court.

Issue:

WON the Constitution protect the right of marital privacy against state restrictions on a couple's
ability to be counseled in the use of contraceptives.

Ruling:

Yes. A right to privacy can be inferred from several amendments in the Bill of Rights, and this right
prevents states from making the use of contraception by married couples illegal.

The Court ruled that the Constitution did in fact protect the right of marital privacy against state
restrictions on contraception. This case concerns a relationship lying within the zone of privacy
created by several fundamental constitutional guarantees. And it concerns a law which, in forbidding
the use of contraceptives, rather than regulating their manufacture or sale, seeks to achieve its goals
by means having a maximum destructive impact upon that relationship. Such a law cannot stand in
light of the familiar principle, so often applied by this Court, that a "governmental purpose to control
or prevent activities constitutionally subject to state regulation may not be achieved by means
which sweep unnecessarily broadly and thereby invade the area of protected freedoms."

Together, the First, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Amendments create the right to privacy in marital
relations. The Connecticut statute conflicted with the exercise of this right and was therefore held null
and void.