Monday, June 7, 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut

In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. The case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. ... Estelle Griswold, the executive director of Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, doctor and professor at Yale Medical School, were arrested and found guilty as accessories to providing illegal contraception. They were fined $100 each. Griswold and Buxton appealed to the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut, claiming that the law violated the U.S. Constitution. The Connecticut court upheld the conviction, and Griswold and Buxton appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in 1965. The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision written by Justice William O. Douglas, ruled that the law violated the "right to marital privacy" and could not be enforced against married people.

     -- From "Expanding Civil Rights: Landmark Cases," www.pbs.org: @

     -- Caption: Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League, standing outside the center in April 1963, which was closed pending decision of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Connecticut state law forbidding sale or use of contraceptives (from "The Legal Legacy of Griswold v. Connecticut," David J. Garrow for American Bar Association, 2011): @

* "Birth Control Law Said 'Invasion of Privacy' " (The Associated Press): @

* Oral arguments (from The Oyez Project): @

* Text of ruling (from FindLaw): @

* "Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the making of Roe v. Wade" (David J. Garrow, 1994): @

* Summary from "Sexual Rights in America: The Ninth Amendment and the Pursuit of Happiness" (Paul R. Abramson, Steven D. Pinkerton and Mark Huppin, 2003): @

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