[jmerton]

Actually, the U.S. Supreme Court has a formal definition of freedom: "The right to be left alone." This is a very frequently quoted phrase in USSC decisions. BTW: the right to privacy is considered by many to be half of this.

[jmerton]

Me again. I committed a serious spelling error. The Actual phrase is the "right to be LET alone." This is actually quite explicit in the Fourth Amendment. Privacy was not "invented" by the Supremes. As far as citation, here is a list: http://law.justia.com/lawsearch?query=%22right%20to%20be%20l.... As I said, this is commonly quoted phrase. I stand by my original comment, with the change of one word.

[mturmon]

You are off base here. I'm not aware of any SCOTUS definition of freedom.

The phrase you quote is most associated with Louis Brandeis' conception of a right to privacy (it was his in-a-nutshell definition).

Privacy and freedom are not the same, obviously. And, there is nothing explicitly in the Constitution (or the Amendments) about privacy per se, which is why Brandeis had to write the article grappling with the issue.

[dragonwriter]

> Actually, the U.S. Supreme Court has a formal definition of freedom: "The right to be left alone."

[citation needed]