American Civil Liberty And Federal Law - Term Paper Example

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTY AND FEDERAL LAW The American society aims to continue to live as a free nation; they think that they must live the way they want to live without increased involvement of the government. Civil liberties are basically the rights that need protection from the government for which the individuals strive and vote. At the same time, the government is supposed to guarantee protection to rights of citizens by the laws of a country. However, in some cases, the government wants to place some limits on personal liberties for the sake of common goods. At the same time, Americans want their civil rights or freedom of speech, press, assembly and religious practice to be protected by the government. Further, civil rights include the right to vote and provide equal opportunity to public as their right. The civil rights are very important for so many reasons. Also, these rights are of great significance because they treat all people equally. This paper intent to discuss about the relation between American laws effect on civil liberties and the co-existence between federal laws and civil liberties. The above contextual statement maintains that the Supreme Court has established that many of the provisions of the Bill of Rights limit the proceedings and the actions of public and local government as well as of the federal government. The United States had a belief that individuals had some important liberties and right, which they want to be done by any means. The bill of rights protects these liberties and rights. However, the people want more, there are many demands, which they think that these are natural rights and these are fundamental. Many Americans understand that there is the need for fiscal responsibility, respect for the rule of law and strong defense. And, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights is the most essential political value in the American society. However, there are many personal liberties of people, which are not yet properly defined in Constitution. Therefore, to overcome these issues the American constitution made amendments. The first ten amendments to the U.S constitution named as Bill of Rights. The first amendment contains different important and most demanding rights that assure individuals basic civil liberties which includes freedom to practice for individuals own religion, speech rights, freedom of association and freedom of the press. The other amendments were about right to bear arms (Luff 2012). The constitution was basically designed in the way where it could be amended, though it was not easy to design. There are many different textbooks that describe the civil rights era in detail. In the civil rights era, there were number of events that happened during 1950s to 1970s. The movement was essentially at the peak of a great effort that begun almost a century earlier, during the reconstruction era (Latimer 2011). After the civil war, the American political parties “Congress” approved number of civil right laws, and the U.S government passed amendments to the Constitution. And then a vast change occurred on domestic legislation due to the civil rights movement. This drastic change impacted the movement during Lyndon B Johnson’s government in the 1960s (Stephens and Scheb 2011). There were many leaders who tried to divert the attention to the fact that the number of poor residents of America needed equality in their social right. Most of the people who were poor and having a difficult time in America were majorly black people. It was an intense issue to be solved for the American government. The civil rights act 1964, in which predecessor John F. Kennedy’s efforts brought some difference in the civil rights movement as he worked hard to grab the attention of congress towards requirements to outlaw discrimination on religion, nationality, or gender. President John F. Kennedy set social policies, which were for the war on poverty and on the effective growth in the movement for cultural equality. So now, the modern civil rights movement, which is more similar to the movements earlier, has created transformation in the American democracy. But many controversies and debates started on the boundaries of individual freedom and on the role of government and many concepts of social justice (Tsesis 2010). Herein, it can be said that the constitution of America is in the best shape to defend civil rights. As per the constitution, American citizens have a complete right to live, speak and write freely. Also, the practices of religion are personal for Americans to follow to practice freely. In the similar fashion, government has introduced Voting Right Act which prohibits discrimination concerning voting in elections. In particular, the Act also provides safeguard the voting right in national election for women in America. In recent times, there were some of the amendments which were introduced in the act that also provided minorities to vote in election to the governmental parties they support. These amendments helped the Supreme Court to take strict legal steps in case of the violations of federal voting rights. The other step for amendment that was taken within Act was to maintain a voter-registration record. As, there were majority of people who were unable to cast vote in the national elections and the reason was, they were not registered or the records were not properly maintained. So, to provide greater protection for minorities, Voting Right Act played its role greatly (Stephens and Scheb, American Constitutional Law: Sources of Power and Restraint, Volume 1 2011). The liberty cannot be violated as it makes the American nation a unique nation. On the other hand, the civil rights cannot be ignored for the sake of liberty in a large ratio. Both the factors are for the purpose of saving humanity. Civil rights frequently refer to how people are treated by the others and civil liberties pertains the freedoms that people wish to enjoy. Both the aspects go hand to hand in some cases but not always. Example of one of most complicated areas of civil rights can be when the Muslims all over the world took Salman Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses’ was published and it as an offence as it was considered as an insult against their religion and asked the government to ban the book. As a matter of fact, the government decided to make the book equivalent to censorship and did not ban the book as a democratic nation. Here, the act of government clearly indicates a balance between the civil rights and liberties (Walker 2010). Apart from that some cases concerning rights and liberties are complicated. Women having right of abortion in America is an example of civil liberty, which is now being questioned by many groups as they present a point of human rights for the unborn baby, that puts this right in direct conflict with a woman’s liberty and freedom. A thorough research over some cases like these makes us understand that there cannot be any one factor dominating over the other. In contradiction to the above example, the fact remains that in the present times, there is no uniformity when it comes to following notions and regulations within the society. Times have changed where people are free to discuss their own point of views. It is clear that many mediums and platforms that are currently being employed by various groups. They enhance their viewpoint and further forward it to lawmakers and authorities. This indicates us that it is complicated to make them limited within a framework. By allotting legal policies, which limit them from practicing their respective beliefs, government is actually going against the will of people. So at this point, it can be stated that it is the main role of the government to make it sure that the basic rights are being provided to the people. Herein, it can be well stated that civil rights and federal laws are rather discussed in the context of debate. The aspect of co-existence of both the phenomenon is typically difficult to ensure because majority of Americans believe that federal laws are applied within the society to create a boundary for those who become immigrants and want to be a part of American dream. The government has set equal protection for anyone who is American citizen whether they are legal or illegal. The Supreme Court set this rule that no illegal individual can vote in U.S elections. Another viewpoint to approach the co-existence of federal laws and civil rights and the public demands are essential part and right of any citizen of any country or state, but speaking of civil liberty there is no limit and it can create many issues and problem which cannot be managed after few years, Federal laws do affect civil rights mostly in federal funded schools, colleges and universities, there are many cases reported. So, the fundamental rights of every individual should be managed and protected which had been overlapped and overlooked. In order to conclude the discussion, it could be stated that civil liberties in the US have changed significantly over its history. However, the government still continues to play a role in limiting the certain liberties and rights that should be given to all citizens irrespective of their backgrounds. BIBLIOGRAPHY Latimer, L. Civil Liberties and the State: A Documentary and Reference Guide. Chicago: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Luff, J. Commonsense Anticommunism: Labor and Civil Liberties between the World Wars: Labor and Civil Liberties between the World Wars. New York: University of North Carolina Press, 2012. Stephens, O, and J. Scheb. American Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Liberties, Volume 2. Washington DC.: Cengage Learning, 2011. —. American Constitutional Law: Sources of Power and Restraint, Volume 1. Chicago: Cengage Learning, 2011. Tsesis, A. The Promises of Liberty: The History and Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. Walker, S. Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama: A Story of Poor Custodians. London: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Read More