What Are Privacy Rights – Court of Appeals Asks the US Supreme Court – Case involving financial, medical and other records accessed by Employers in return for keeping their jobs

I think this is a question we would all like to have an answer to. Problem is, does the Supreme Court know or can they figure it out? It’s not as easy as it used to be with technology today as well. The private records were related to issuing a badge, which was ordered by Homeland Security.

Come to think of it, does Homeland Security have any answers here too? I’ve said a few times on here we need “smart people” in key positions with some technology background and not just someone who has to rely on a staff or someone else for all their information and I’m beginning to ponder the same thing about judges, “smart judges”? If somehow this information was not at risk of being used against you, then I don’t think it would be such an issue, but unfortunately it’s not that way.

The judge himself had some privacy issues last year himself with his own website which was under scrutiny for obscenity. BD

That is a question that Chief Judge Alex Kolinski of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that the justices hinted at such a right 32 years ago and "never said another word about it."

Kozinski urged the high court Thursday to clarify what, if any, right a citizen has to shield medical and mental health records from an employer's inspection. The issue arises from the successful challenge by workers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech and other federal aerospace contractors to the Bush administration's demand for probing security reviews after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
A majority of the appeals court's 27 active judges voted against convening an 11-judge panel to reconsider Nelson vs. NASA, the case brought on behalf of more than 4,000 JPL employees.
Senior research scientist Robert M. Nelson and 27 other JPL specialists sued NASA in 2007 to thwart the government's demands for access to their financial, medical and psychiatric records in exchange for letting them keep their jobs. The personal information was sought as part of a badge-issuing program ordered by the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.

Appellate judge asks Supreme Court to clarify privacy rights - Los Angeles Times