No one will argue or dispute the fact that a person’s happiness is directly proportional to one’s education, work, family, church, and home as outlined in Meyer. While privacy within the home has gotten some protection from the Court, the same cannot be said of a person’s right to education, property, and work. In fact, those fundamental rights are continually being diminished by government laws which are upheld by the Court. If privacy is protected within the home, but if a person’s right to education, property, and work are not protected then the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness is essentially gone. Also, it is important to remember that even privacy rights are not absolute as lawful citizens can be monitored by the National Security Agency (NSA) without warrants. What’s worse, police can even monitor our phone GPS data to obtain information without warrants (Carpenter v. United States, 2018). Big Brother is watching us, with or without privacy rights. Carpenter is an interesting case. Although it appears that the Court is going to limit authorities from accessing GPS data from phones without a warrant, their rationale is going to be flawed. Carpenter illustrates the Court’s historically misguided view to protect privacy rights and neglect property rights. Carpenter should be a property case because authorities are trespassing on personal property (phones) without a warrant. However, it looks as though Carpenter will be decided using privacy concerns. Carpenter shows the willingness of the Court to protect privacy rights (an elevated right) but neglect property rights (enumerated right) which is important as we look at why the American dream is dying.
The 1905 case Lochner v. New York was a decision that has lived in infamy. In this case, the Court struck down a New York law regulating how many hours bakers can work in a week. However, the Court upheld all of the other provisions of the New York law to promote public health and safety. Lochner upheld the same freedom of contract alluded to in Meyer 18 years later. The Court held that the freedom of contract between an employer and employee was paramount and legislatures cannot deny that right or freedom under the guise of public health and safety. Lochner was a huge win for working rights, but those rights would be short lived. Lochner was officially overruled in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish in 1937. But government economic regulation started in Nebbia v. New York (1934). The Court held that a New York law prohibiting selling a quart of milk under 9 cents was lawful. Hence, the conviction of a grocer who sold two quarts of milk and a loaf of bread for 18 cents was upheld. Why can’t a businessman set a price that is satisfactory to him and his customers? The whole purpose of a contract is for both Party A and Party B to be happy with the result. In Nebbia, both A and B were happy so why is it necessary to regulate this contract? How can people pursue a lawful occupation without government interference if the government regulates their work hours, overtime, wages, child labor laws, and the prices at which they can sell products? The government’s purpose is to protect rights and not to regulate, prohibit, deny, manage, or disparage rights without any compelling government reason.
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