Rush Limbaugh's Right to Privacy

Does Rush Limbaugh, or anyone else, have a constitutional right to privacy? Limbaugh argued exactly when he tried to have his medical records sealed so that prosecutors in Florida couldn't look at them during their investigation of his drug abuse. Unfortunately, he has also argued exactly the opposite when it has suited his purposes.

Atrios at Eschaton was kind enough to provide these quotes. First, the most recent claim that there exists a constitutional right to privacy:

Limbaugh argued that he has a constitutional right to privacy over the records, and that the seizure of the records by the State Attorney's Office was making it difficult for him to obtain treatment from his doctors.

In his book The Way Things Ought To Be, p. 56 Jul 2, 1992, Rush Limbaugh wrote:

I agree with the view, best articulated by Judge Robert Bork, that there is no basis in the Constitution for the privacy right which was announced as the foundational basis for the constitutional right to abortion.

On his radio program on June 27, 2003, Rush Limbaugh is quoted as saying::

There is no right to privacy specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

From all of this I have to conclude that Rush Limbaugh believes that he has a constitutional right to privacy when it suits his purposes, but that other people don't have a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to matters he disapproves of. That, of course, would mean that Rush Limbaugh is something of a hypocrite.

Read More:

• Court Decisions on Privacy