June 7, 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut

Estelle Griswold

June 7, 1965: The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Estelle T. Griswold and C. Lee Buxton v. Connecticut -- usually shortened for easy reference to Griswold v. Connecticut -- rules that the Constitution of the United States protects the right of married couples to buy and use birth control, without restrictions from the federal government.

The case involved a State law in Connecticut that prohibited any person from using "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception." The plaintiffs were Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut; and Charles Lee Buxton, a gynecologist.

The Court held that the statute was unconstitutional, and that its effect was "to deny disadvantaged citizens... access to medical assistance and up-to-date information in respect to proper methods of birth control."

By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy," as expressed in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, establishing the basis for that right with respect to "intimate practices" (in other words, anything that could be defined as "sexual activity").

Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion, asking, "Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship." Justice Arthur Goldberg also invoked the 9th Amendment. Justice Byron White argued that Connecticut's law failed "the rational basis standard."

In addition to Douglas, Goldberg and White, Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justices John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan and Tom C. Clark concurred, to form the majority opinion. The dissenting Justices were Hugo Black (which was unusual, as he tended to support such civil liberties cases) and Potter Stewart.

C. Lee Buxton died in 1969. Estelle Griswold lived until 1981. For the record, while both plaintiffs were married, Buxton had 4 children, but Griswold had none. Byron White was both the last serving Justice on the Court from this case, retiring in 1993; and the last surviving one, living until 2002.

Griswold v. Connecticut and its commitment to a right to privacy were used as the basis for the argument to overturn State abortion laws in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

(UPDATE: When Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe in 2022, some anti-abortion activists warned that overturning Griswold was now a priority for the Court's arch-conservatives.)

*

June 7, 1965 was a Monday. Mick Foley, the professional wrestler known as Mankind, was born. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics, 4-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Jim Bouton and Fred Talbot were the starting pitchers, but neither would be a pitcher of record. They would later be teammates on the Yankees and, in 1969, on the expansion Seattle Pilots, as told in Bouton's diary of the season, published the next year as Ball Four.

As it turned out, the winning pitcher was Hal Reniff, and the losing pitcher was Moe Drabowsky. Roger Maris hit a home run, and Mickey Mantle went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Tony Conigliaro hit a home run, while Carl Yastrzemski only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Sandy Koufax went the distance, striking out 13. Lew Burdette only pitched 3 innings.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium in suburban Anaheim could open the next season. Al Kaline went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs, a double, and 3 RBIs.