Roberts, the Right to Privacy, and a Call to Action

[KnaveRupe]

Okay, folks. Here's the deal. The reich wing has once again given us a judge who, like the original poster boy for Horrific Judges Robert Bork, apparently believes that we Americans do not have a constitutional right to privacy.

WaPo 8/3/05

NYT 8/9/05

So, forgetting for the moment the politics of whether we should "spend political capital" in filibustering Roberts' nomination, why don't we do an end run around the conservatives on the court and cut their arguments out from under them?

The republicans are forever trotting out Constitutional amendments to deny citizens' rights. We should start a grass roots movement for a Constitutional amendment that would protect rights, rights which are under constant attack.

A "Right to Privacy" amendment.

I know, we already HAVE a right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment (and to a lesser extent several other amendments.) But the far right has undermined that right in their arguments against Roe, Griswold, and others by denying the existence of that right because it is inferred, rather than explicitly stated.

So let's explicitly state it.

Properly framed, this could be a major rallying issue for the left, as well as a good chunk of the center.

And while we're at it, let's insist that the Amendment explicitly state that the right only extends to actual human beings, rather than to corporations.

Thoughts?