June 7, 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut

Estelle Griswold

June 7, 1965, 60 years ago: The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Estelle T. Griswold and C. Lee Buxton v. Connecticut -- usually shortened for easy reference to Griswold v. Connecticut -- rules that the Constitution of the United States protects the right of married couples to buy and use birth control, without restrictions from the federal government.

The case involved a State law in Connecticut that prohibited any person from using "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception." The plaintiffs were Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut; and Charles Lee Buxton, a gynecologist.

The Court held that the statute was unconstitutional, and that its effect was "to deny disadvantaged citizens... access to medical assistance and up-to-date information in respect to proper methods of birth control."

By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy," as expressed in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, establishing the basis for that right with respect to "intimate practices" (in other words, anything that could be defined as "sexual activity").

Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion, asking, "Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship." Justice Arthur Goldberg also invoked the 9th Amendment. Justice Byron White argued that Connecticut's law failed "the rational basis standard."

In addition to Douglas, Goldberg and White, Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justices John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan and Tom C. Clark concurred, to form the majority opinion. The dissenting Justices were Hugo Black (which was unusual, as he tended to support such civil liberties cases) and Potter Stewart.

C. Lee Buxton died in 1969. Estelle Griswold lived until 1981. For the record, while both plaintiffs were married, Buxton had 4 children, but Griswold had none. The last remaining Justice on the Court from this case was Brennan, who served until 1990. White was the last surviving Justice from the case, living until 2002.

Griswold v. Connecticut and its commitment to a right to privacy were used as the basis for the argument to overturn State abortion laws in Roe v. Wade in 1973. (UPDATE: When Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe in 2022, some anti-abortion activists warned that overturning Griswold was now a priority.)