Civil liberties refer to guaranteed freedoms and rights either outlined in the United States of America’s constitution or in the bill of right or inferred or interpreted through the years by the court or legislatures. Civil right on the hand refers to legal rights that protect a person from unequal treatment on the basis of particular protected characteristics (disability, gender, race, etc.) in setting such as education, housing, employment, and public facility access. Most laws concerning civil rights are established via national government through case laws or federal legislation. Civil liberties and civil rights are terms that are frequently used interchangeably, synonymously, but these terms are very distinct.
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Within the U.S. Constitution, civil liberties are established on the bill of rights, and they are addressed in the first ten amendments introduced to the constitution in 1791(Levitt et al., 2019). Civil liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights can be partitioned into two vast areas, including rights and freedom protected in the first amendment and rights and liberties related to crime and due process. Within the U.S. Constitution. Civil rights are addressed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US constitution.
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An example of Supreme Court cases that concern civil liberties are the Gitlow v. New York case of 1925. The case emerged in November 1919 when Alan Larkin and Benjamin Gitlow, a former assemblyman of New York State, were arrested for criminal anarchy, which was an offense under New York state law (Yuksel et al., 2019). The Supreme Court justices decided to hear this case because it concerned fundamental persona liberties and rights and associated with treason. In this case, the supreme court of the United States, on June 8, 1925, ruled that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on the protection of speech that outlines that the congress shall form no law that curtails the speech freedom also applies to state government.
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However, Alan Larkin and Benjamin Gitlow’s conviction was upheld. Gitlow v. New York case discussed the U.S. Constitution by showing that the United States constitution impacts both federal and state governments. The case discussed subsequent federal and state laws by showing that the laws should not contradict the constitution. The case impacted legislation by showing that elected representatives were supposed to consider the constitution when formulating state laws. The judicially was also affected as this case affected the interpretation of the bill right where an individual can practice his freedom of speech, but he ends up being convicted. The case also impacted the executive because the bill of rights only applied to the federal government before the case, but after that case, it also applied to state government. The case affected me and society in that the freedom of speech was limited because the court allowed the government to prohibit speech that can affect its existence. I disagree with supreme decision because it contradicts its former ruling on Barron V. Baltimore case of 1833, where it ruled that the bill of right only affect federal government.
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An example of Supreme Court cases that concerns civil rights is Brown v. Board II of 1955. This case was decided in 1955 after Brown challenged separate but equal schools for blacks and white (Porter et al., and 2017). The Supreme Court decided to hear this case was because it concerned the fundamental right of children. The Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in the public school where the black and white students had different but equal schools were unconstitutional. This Supreme case discussed the U.S. Constitution by clarifying what the constitution means by equal rights. The case also discussed Subsequent federal and state laws as it indicated the end of legalized segregation on the basis of race. The case affected the legislature because it had to revisit separate and equal laws. This led the general assembly committee of Georgia to set a committee to study the impact of school integration. The case affected judicially as it overturned previous court decisions of equal and separate schools in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The case also affected the executive as it had to enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling. President Eisenhower directed National Guard troops to enforce desegregation of the school.
The case had a significant impact on us as members of society as it established a turning point in race relations history in the USA. The court made equal opportunities for everyone by stripping away segregation constitution suctions. I agree with the court decision on this case because racial segregation was not only unconstitutional, but it had psychological harm on the black student. Civil liberties and rights are different terms protected by the united state constitution, and they are crucial for the welfare of American citizens. The constitution protects citizen’s liberties and rights violations by the federal government. Gitlow v. New York and Brown v. Board II of 1955 are two compelling cases that directly concern civil rights and civil liberties. Supreme court decisions on these cases had a great impact on American history.
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