U.S. Government and Civics / Unit 4: Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights
4.5 The Second Amendment and Privacy
Notes
Some liberties have been defined mainly through Supreme Court cases.
- Second Amendment: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
- ***District of Columbia v. Heller* (2008): the Second Amendment protects an individual** right to keep a handgun in the home for self-defense. The Court said the right is not unlimited.
- ***McDonald v. Chicago* (2010)**: incorporated that right against the states.
- Right to privacy: not written in the Constitution but found by the Court in several amendments.
- ***Griswold v. Connecticut* (1965)**: struck down a ban on contraceptives for married couples, recognizing a right to privacy implied by the Bill of Rights.
- ***Roe v. Wade* (1973) extended privacy to abortion. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022)** overruled Roe, returning the regulation of abortion to elected officials in the states.
- These cases show how the Court can reverse its own earlier rulings.
Practice
Which case first recognized a constitutional right to privacy?
Griswold (1965) found privacy in the "penumbras" of several amendments.
District of Columbia v. Heller ruled that the Second Amendment:
Heller recognized an individual right while noting it is not unlimited.
Which case applied the Second Amendment to state and local governments?
Heller involved Washington, D.C., a federal district; McDonald incorporated the right against states.
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