Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe

Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1 (2003), was a case before the United States Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the Connecticut sex offender registration requirement which required public disclosure of information on sex offenders after they had been released from incarceration.

Circumstances
A state statute required Connecticut's Department of Public Safety(PDS) to collect  information gathered from sex offenders who registered into a sex offender registry and publicize it on an internet website and to make the registry available to the public in specific state offices, as Connecticut's version of Megan's Law.

The website contained the following disclaimer:

John Doe, a convicted sex offender who was thereby subject to the law, filed suit in Federal court, claiming that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The District Court issued an injunction regarding the law's public disclosure provisions. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that such disclosure did indeed violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment  because registrants were not provided Doe with a  hearing prior to the public disclosure.

Issue
The Supreme court granted certiorari to determine whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was correct in enjoining the public disclosure of Connecticut’s sex offender registry.

Decision
In a unanimous opinion, the Second Circuit Court's judgment was reversed on the basis that due process does not require the opportunity to prove a fact that is instrumental to the State's statutory scheme. Injury to reputation in itself, even if defamatory, does not constitute deprivation of liberty.