Constitutional Right to Privacy
The US constitution is not written and codified; rather it is comprised of constitutional conventions, case laws, small statutes, and amendments. Likewise, the constitution does not contain an express right to liberty. The Bill of Rights is the only codified expression of the constitution about personal rights, but says little about the right to privacy; though the amendments in the Bill of Rights over the years have contributed to defining the right to privacy. Privacy rights came to be recognized in the early 1920s in a number of court cases. In Meyer v Nebraska (1923), the Supreme Court turned down the state law prohibiting the schools from teaching foreign languages. An important quote from the case verdict is: “While this court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed, the term has received much consideration and some of the included things have been definitely stated”. Another case Pierce v Society of Sisters followed two years later that further defined privacy.
Years later the privacy issue got in the headlines again when in Griswold v Connecticut (1965) the court invalidated the law banning the possession, sale, and purchase of contraceptives by couples. The court decision expressed the intention to define under the Bill of Rights “a zone of privacy”. In Stanley v Georgia (1969), the court turned down a conviction of a man keeping and viewing pornographic material. The court stated: “Whatever may be the justifications for other statutes regulating obscenity, we do not think they reach into the privacy of one’s own home. If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving the government the power to control men’s minds”. This was the first-ever explicit definition of privacy under the constitution. In later years the “zone of privacy” was extended to the right to abortion (Roe v Wade 1972), keeping marijuana (Ravin v State 1975) and homosexuality (Lawrence v Texas 2003).
Presidential Power
The US President is elected for a term of four years in a separate election than those for congress. Although this is intended to keep a separation of powers, often there is conflict in the usage of power. Presidential power is well and widely defined. The key elements are deploying troops overseas, making large-scale financial policies, making treaties, and making thousands of political appointments including ambassadors.
The three presidents in history with very different ruling styles have been J.F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and G.W.Bush. Kennedy had a charismatic personality. He was liked among the US nation and abroad for his negotiable nature, flexibility, and radical leadership style that differed from the conventional war-prone style. He was known to have conflicts with the predefined war and aggression agendas and perhaps was not popular with the establishment. Clinton brought the economic golden period to the US. He had excellent macroeconomic policies and he too was less war-prone. Clinton was famous as a statesman in the White House. He was vocal, had a charismatic personality, and was liked among the general public. George W. Bush was elected after eight years presidency of Clinton for a change in policies. Bush brought the old conventional war-lust, aggressive policies, and massive use of executive power on unpopular decisions. Wars and economic instability mark the second term of Bush. This is a common sentiment that the US president has too much power in case of deploying troops and initiating a war of massive expenditure. On the other side, many do know the fact that many of the US defense policies are predefined by the establishment and will continue irrespective of the person sitting in the White House.