Rights Not Listed: Meyer, Pierce and Griswold

Several important Supreme Court cases have protected liberties that the Constitution does not name. In Meyer v. Nebraska in 1923, the Court struck down a law banning the teaching of foreign languages to young children, a law aimed largely at German after World War I, ruling that liberty includes the right to acquire knowledge and parents' right to direct their children's education. Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925 struck down an Oregon law requiring children to attend public schools, declaring that the child is not the mere creature of the state.

In Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, the Court struck down a law banning married couples from using contraceptives. Justice William O. Douglas wrote that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have 'penumbras' that create zones of privacy. Justices Hugo Black and Potter Stewart dissented, arguing that judges had no authority to strike down laws based on rights not found in the text. These cases remain central to debates about unenumerated rights.