Civil Liberty

Civil liberties are one’s personal rights as spelled out in the bill of rights or rather the constitution and other founding documents (Civil Liberties, 99).  The main reason for the establishment of the Civil Liberties was to prevent oppression from the central government. This was clear during the debates concerning the Constitution’s adoption where the opponents of this process highly advocated for a “bill of rights” outlining the immunities of the citizens.

“The initial ten amendments to the United States Constitution are commonly termed as the Bill of Rights” (The Charters of Freedom, 1). The amendment contains a number of significant rights that guarantee ones essential civil liberties as well as freedom or liberty of speech, liberty of the press, liberty of association, and liberty to practice one’s personal religion (The Charters of Freedom, 1). Citizen’s civil liberties are safeguarded against government limitation and the interfering of others, but they are not supreme. That is for the reason that people’s rights regularly collide, and therefore must be fair against each other in conducts that uphold the public good for every citizen (Civil Liberties, 100).

Americans have not at all entirely established on where the equilibrium should be struck in all instances. In spelling out what the regime cannot do, the Bill of Rights is an essential source of people’s civil freedoms that cannot be denied even when popular majorities at the state/local or national level choose to limit them (Civil Liberties, 101).

The First Amendment in the constitution has various prohibitions not in favor of national government authority. It affirms that Congress cannot:

• Limit freedom of speech or the right of citizens to peaceably gather and to appeal the government for a right of grievances.

• Restrict a person or group’s liberated exercise of religion.

• support any religion.

Whereas the First Amendment has been a protection against imperious government all through the American history, judges have interpreted the possibility and substance of First Amendment freedoms differently. Initially written during an era when there were no phones, television, or computers, the literal meanings of the liberated speech and press assurances in the First Amendment have essentially been redefined and  interpreted again ever since. The courts have not at all considered the rights preserved in the whole Bill of Rights, to be complete. Instead, right conflicts with another, as when someone’s liberty or freedom of speech right conflicts with a different person’s right to confidentiality, the courts ought to balance the crashing rights and consider where a certain right ought to give way to the another (Civil Liberties, 103).

On the other hand, the fourth and sixth Amendments to the Constitution defend Americans from governmental interruptions for instance, unfair searches and convulsions, and comprise of procedural due process guarantees for citizens accused of crimes.

It is the work of the appeal courts and at times the U.S. High Court to construe and apply the Constitution to particular incidences, and finally to determine if someone’s essential rights have been violated (The Charters of Freedom, 3).

In conclusion, civil liberties assist in protecting the human rights. It is up to every American citizen and the government at large to uphold or safeguard the human rights. Consequently, it right to state that the civil liberties are significant and should always be protected (The Charters of Freedom, 4). However, as good as they may be, the civil rights also have some side effects and ought to be amended. Furthermore, there are a lot of vital civil liberties that are not found in the first ten amendments. For example, the American civil liberties union maintains that the post-civil war amendments do guard basic civil liberties. This amendment is not found in the civil liberty’s first ten amendments hence calling for its rectification.