Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

10. Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Justice Felix Frankfurter
Justice Felix Frankfurter was a huge influence on the Supreme Court in the years he sat on the bench, 1939 — 62. He is noted for his civil rights and anti-trust decisions.

"It is a fair summary of constitutional history that the landmarks of our liberties have often been forged in cases involving not very nice people." -Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter

Protection of civil liberties and civil rights is perhaps the most fundamental political value in American society. And yet, as former Justice Frankfurter explained in the quote above, the people who test liberties and rights in our courts are not always ideal citizens. Consider some of these examples:

  • A pick ax murderer on death row who found God and asked for clemency

  • A publisher of magazines, books, and photos convicted for sending obscene materials through the United States mail

  • A convict whose electrocution was botched when 2,000 volts of electricity rushed into his body, causing flames to leap from his head

  • A university student criminally charged for writing and publishing on the internet about torturing and murdering women

Each of these people made sensational headline news as the center of one of many national civil liberties disputes in the late 20th century. They became involved in the legal process because of behavior that violated a law, and almost certainly, none of them intended to become famous. More important than the headlines they made, however, is the role they played in establishing important principles that define the many civil liberties and civil rights that Americans enjoy today.

Liberties or Rights?

What is the difference between a liberty and a right? Both words appear in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The distinction between the two has always been blurred, and today the concepts are often used interchangeably. However, they do refer to different kinds of guaranteed protections.

Civil liberties are protections against government actions. For example, the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees citizens the right to practice whatever religion they please. Government, then, cannot interfere in an individual's freedom of worship. Amendment I gives the individual "liberty" from the actions of the government.

Civil rights, in contrast, refer to positive actions of government should take to create equal conditions for all Americans. The term "civil rights" is often associated with the protection of minority groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and women. The government counterbalances the "majority rule" tendency in a democracy that often finds minorities outvoted.

Right vs. Right

Truman desegregation headline
The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper, trumpets the desegregation of the military. The right to participate in public institutions is a key component of civil rights.

Most Americans think of civil rights and liberties as principles that protect freedoms all the time. However, the truth is that rights listed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are usually competing rights. Most civil liberties and rights court cases involve the plaintiff's right vs. another right that the defendant claims has been violated.

For example, in 1971, the New York Times published the "Pentagon Papers" that revealed some negative actions of the government during the Vietnam War. The government sued the newspaper, claiming that the reports endangered national security. The New York Times countered with the argument that the public had the right to know and that its freedom of the press should be upheld. So, the situation was national security v. freedom of the press. A tough call, but the Court chose to uphold the rights of the press.

The Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment

The overwhelming majority of court decisions that define American civil liberties are based on the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments added to the Constitution in 1791. Civil liberties protected in the Bill of Rights may be divided into two broad areas: freedoms and rights guaranteed in the First Amendment (religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition) and liberties and rights associated with crime and due process. Civil rights are also protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects violation of rights and liberties by the state governments.

14th Amendment

Section 1.

Section 2.


Section 4.

Section 5.

Protection of civil liberties and civil rights is basic to American political values, but the process is far from easy. Protecting one person's right may involve violating those of another. How far should the government go to take "positive action" to protect minorities? The answers often come from individuals who brush most closely with the law, whose cases help to continually redefine American civil liberties and rights.

On the Web
Tinker v. Des Moines
"Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of expression at the schoolhouse gates." -Supreme Court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
O.J. Simpson reacts to not guilty verdict
The O.J. Simpson trial in 1995 focused national attention on court procedure and the rights of the accused.
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Do the civil rights of the United States cover all the rights that they should? Some groups say that the U.S. violates internationally recognized human rights because they aren't included in American law. Facebook Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! My Web StumbleUpon Google Bookmarks Technorati BlinkList Newsvine ma.gnolia reddit Windows Live
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