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What does it mean to say that a right is "fundamental"? It might mean any of the following:

  • It is one of the smallest group of rights from which all other rights can be logically derived.
  • It is one on which others depend as a practical matter. (For example, many conservatives have claimed that property rights are necessary if we are to have other rights such as free speech.)
  • It is "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."
  • It is "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition."

Is there a sense in which the right of privacy is fundamental? Is there a constitutional basis for using such a definition?


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