The Right to Privacy and Personal Autonomy

Abstract

It is now unreasonable, I presume, to question the existence of a constitutional right to privacy, for it is deeply embedded in a long line of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. But it is not too late to ask how this right is best defined, for its interpretation remains controversial and cases continue to arise to which its application is contested. One of the most difficult problems in the interpretation of the constitutional right to privacy is understanding the precise relation between privacy and autonomy. On the one side we find Professor David A. J. Richards, who defines the right to privacy in terms of autonomy.