Justice Douglas was an eminent legal scholar, and he unearthed a right in the Constitution that had been previously undiscovered: the right of a woman to kill her unborn child. This right, in turn, was based on the right to privacy, heretofor not known to exist.
The right to privacy is not contained in the text of the Constitution.. Justice Douglas discovered it while contemplating the penumbra of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was as though the rights enumerated in the Constitution were stars, and the glow of radiation around a star is its penumbra. Contained therein are unenumerated rights, logically inherent in the language of our fundamental law. Douglas is celebrated for this brilliant insight to this day.
So my position is that my right not to listen is contained in the penumbra of the First Amendment. Your right to speak must be balanced against my right to pay no attention to you.
It is, I admit, a novel legal theory. But it is firmly grounded in the jurisprudence of William O. Douglas. I can’t wait to present my argument.
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