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UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Abstract

Upon its leak and subsequent official release, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization shocked and worried the nation. Overnight, the Court overturned forty-nine years of precedent. Those forty-nine years of overturned precedent not only implicate the ability to obtain abortion, but also the ability to engage in relationships, marry, make decisions about our own body, and keep our personal lives private. As a result, many advocates worry about the status of fundamental rights since many of those rights relied on the now overturned cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as well as the legal reasoning within those cases. As public employees with unique public safety duties, police officers are no strangers to department regulation of their conduct, both off- and onduty. Officers previously challenged adverse employment actions taken against them for off-duty conduct by arguing that the police department violated their right to privacy. Now, with the right of privacy on shaky ground due to the Dobbs decision, the future of officer success in these actions is uncertain. This note analyzes exactly how the Dobbs decision changes the legal landscape for securing fundamental rights. Following an analysis of the case, the note highlights the new challenges officers must overcome in order to successfully protect their private sexual lives from government intrusion. While this note argues that success is difficult, alternative strategies exist which may help secure off-duty sexual privacy for all.

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