Roberts: The future of privacy

Roberts: The future of privacy
by Steve Chapman
Published at Chigaco Tribune September 1, 2005



Privacy is one of those things, like the 10 Commandments, that Americans revere without necessarily feeling the need to observe. We are not terribly insistent on our privacy: Sit down next to a perfect stranger on an airplane and you may get a report on her miserable childhood before the wheels are up. Nor do we get hung up on the privacy of others, judging from all the slick magazines we buy to learn intimate secrets of the stars.

But it's a bad idea to be seen as the sworn enemy of privacy, just as it's unwise to publicly disparage what God said to Moses. So in the fight over John Roberts' U.S. Supreme Court nomination, opponents are trying to cast him as Robert Bork with fashion sense--the sort of guy who would burst into your bedroom, rifle through your dresser and ask what you're doing under the sheets.

The best example is a TV ad put out by NARAL Pro-Choice America. It opens with "Privacy" emblazoned across the screen and proceeds to suggest that if Roberts has his way, the only place you'll find it is in the dictionary.

"John Roberts dismisses one of our established liberties as the `so-called right to privacy,'" says the narrator, as we see an attractive couple holding hands. "Roberts' legal record raises questions on whether he accepts the right to privacy." Subliminal message: If Roberts gets to the Supreme Court, couples will not be allowed to hold hands

Full article at Chicago Times