Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), is a United States Supreme Court decision holding that a Connecticut statute criminalizing the use of contraceptives by married couples violated a constitutional right of marital privacy. Writing for the majority, Justice William O. Douglas found that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance, and that a right of privacy sufficient to invalidate the statute could be found within those penumbras rather than in any single enumerated provision. The decision supplied the doctrinal foundation later relied upon and extended in Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), Roe v. Wade (1973), Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).
Facts
Decision Year Decision Date HoldingHeld that the Connecticut statute criminalizing the use of contraceptives by married couples violated a constitutional right of marital privacy located in the penumbras formed by emanations from specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights. 2 Current StatusFoundational and, for its core marital-privacy holding, undisturbed; relied upon and extended by Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), Roe v. Wade (1973), Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) overturned Roe's own abortion holding while leaving Griswold nominally intact, though a concurrence questioned the same substantive-due-process reasoning underlying it. 2 Case Status
Case Status (category) FAQs
What right did Griswold v Connecticut find and where did it place it?
A marital privacy right found in the penumbras of the Bill of Rights.
The Supreme Court held that a Connecticut statute criminalizing the use of contraceptives by married couples violated a constitutional right of marital privacy. Justice William O. Douglas found that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees, and that the privacy right could be found there rather than in any single enumerated provision.
Which later decisions built on Griswold v Connecticut?
Eisenstadt, Roe, Lawrence and Obergefell.
The decision supplied the doctrinal foundation later relied upon and extended in Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), Roe v. Wade (1973), Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).
Connections
Associated With
Roe v. Wade (1973) relied on and extended Griswold's privacy reasoning.
Source Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Authored By
Source Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Decided By
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In Legal System
Source Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. Wikidata: Griswold v. Connecticut
- Wikidata Q1053373, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Established the constitutional right to marital privacy; source states no overruling
View the Source2. Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Opinion of the Court section
specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance
- Legacy / subsequent jurisprudence section
- Infobox
- Decided By: United States Supreme Court
- In Legal System: Law of the United States
- In Category: Landmark Cases
- Associated With: Roe v Wade
Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Authored By: William O. Douglas, Article text
Justice William O. Douglas wrote for the majority
In Group: Privacy, Reproduction and Personal Autonomy Cases, Introduction, sentence 1
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to use contraceptives without government restriction.
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