right to Privacy and Federalism

Power is divided between two levels of government in a federalism form of government (Hail & Lange, 2010). The federal government and state governments make up America's two tiers of government. The state governments are given authority by the federal government. States merged to establish the United States after they won their independence from Britain, which led to the emergence of federalism in the US. The states joined together to accomplish economic, social, and political goals that would have been challenging to accomplish as independent governments due to the resources needed and other circumstances (Hail & Lange, 2010). Federalism provided for a strong united government but also ensures that the states’ specific needs are met. Though federalism has been in the US for a long period of time, there are still many problems which arise about the responsibilities of the different levels of government. These problems have led to debates about the impact of federalism in certain constitutional matters. One such matter is the right to privacy. The paper shall discuss how federalism interacts with the right to privacy and how it impacts it whether positively or negatively.

Negative Impact of Federalism on Right to Privacy

The right to privacy is the right for a person’s personal information, belongings, and house not to be searched or seized. The right is alluded to in the constitution in the first amendment, third amendment, fourth, fifth, and ninth amendments (Dillard, 2010). The right to privacy protects the autonomy of a person to choose whether to have certain experiences or do certain things without the state interfering with them. Most states in the United States have enacted laws concerned with privacy rights and various civil liberties. Laws on privacy made by states supersede those made by the federal government as it is not a matter that is under the federal government according to the constitution (Dillard, 2010). This thus raises the concern of how the federal government has been able to acquire a lot of personal information on citizens.

One of the main reasons for the government acquiring a lot of personal information is the patriot act of 2001 which came into effect after the September 11, 2001 terror attack in New York. Under the patriot act, the federal government can spy on an American citizen if it suspects that the citizen is linked to terrorism activities (Dillard, 2010). The act also allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to obtain a court order to search and seize a person’s property without probable cause as long as they are doing it is because of national security reasons. The act and the now widespread use of technology has resulted in the government holding a lot of personal information. This was largely revealed by a whistle-blower who previously worked with the department of homeland security raising the concern that the federal government would not have informed citizens of collection of this data (Lim, 2015). Whenever a person carries out a transaction using social security cards, the federal government gets the information. Thus when a person has a transaction with a bank, a government organization, or another company, the information is stored in government databases. The federal government holding so much information of people’s daily activities, especially with the use of today’s technology, could be considered to be a violation of privacy.

Positive Impact of Federalism on Privacy rights

Federalism allows states to make their own laws thus enabling people to make laws that affect them locally and according to the local challenges (Hail & Lange, 2010). The state government can make policies that are locally suited as the leaders are closer to the people. This would have been difficult in the case of one national government governing a large territory as the policies affect different types of people who have different backgrounds and perspectives on issues. Many people would feel that their concerns were not being taken into account in various matters. One benefit of this is political stability as it enables all the people in the different states to have their views taken into account at a local level. Federalism ensures that the federal government does not interfere with how the state carries out its functions and the laws that it enacts on privacy rights. The federal government, however, ensures that the state government does not enact a law or laws that will interfere with citizen’s rights. A major benefit of federalism is promoting separation of powers and avoiding instances of tyranny (Hail & Lange, 2010). Separation of powers ensures that there are checks and balances with the provision of three arms of government. Federalism ensures that there is not only one strong national government but that there are states which can make their own laws.

Impact of Federalism

The federal government being in charge of security in the US means that it can take certain measures to ensure that security is maintained (Dillard, 2010). This is the basis on which the patriot act of 2001 was enacted allowing the government to obtain information on the basis of maintaining security. Though federalism has its benefits such as enabling laws to be made at the state level, federal laws such as the patriot act allows the state to carry out practices that might be violations of privacy. The federal government collecting a lot of personal information could be considered to be a violation of the privacy act of 1974.

Under the patriot act, the state might go beyond what is found to be reasonable and acquire too much personal information that would not really be beneficial in their quest. Due to the link in devices in modern times and the use of technology such as mobile phones, computers, and the internet, the government can acquire personal informational such as websites visited, purchases made, and telephone calls made if they decide to carry out surveillance on a person. This is a violation of a person’s privacy and personal space. It is also more problematic when you consider that this surveillance could be taking place without the knowledge of citizens. Such occurrences have only come to light in today’s times because of a whistle-blower exposing the amount of surveillance the government was doing within the country in 2013.

Conclusion

Federalism is a system of government that has many benefits. As discussed in this paper, it brings the government closer to the people and they are able to enact laws that affect them specifically. It also eliminates instances of tyranny with the separation of powers and the provision of checks and balances. Federalism, however, makes it difficult to observe people’s right to privacy with the federal government in the United States being at fault of collecting a lot of personal information. This violates people’s privacy and thus the federal government cannot then purport to protect people’s right to privacy. Though the federal government has to do the most to ensure that there is security for the country, it should ensure that it uses tactics that do not infringe on citizen’s rights such as the right to privacy.



























References

Dillard, J. A. (2010). Big Brother is watching: The Reality Show You Didn't Audition For. Okla. L. Rev., 63, 461.

Hail, M., & Lange, S. (2010). Federalism and Representation in the Theory of the Founding Fathers: A Comparative Study of US and Canadian Constitutional Thought. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 40(3), 366-388.

Lim, E. T. (2015). The Federalist Provenance of the Principle of Privacy. Md. L. Rev., 75, 415.