How does the Bill of Rights provide legal protection? \n\nHow did the Bill of Rights maintain support for the new national government? \n\nDiscuss Federalists and Anti-Federalists, their views and leaders(list 3 of each)?
204083
The bill of rights defines the powers granted to the goverment when conducting criminal investigations (4,5,6,7).  It also defines the rights that citizens have that cannot be impeached upon by laws created at any level of government.
463955
Governments reprsent a congregation of power. Power attracts money. Whenever too much power and money gets concentrated in one place, bad things are bound to happen.\n\nOur founders were looking to prevent that by explicitly enumerating the powers of the federal government. All other powers not mentioned in the Constitution and the ammendments that followed were to be in th hands of the states and the people.\n\nWe've been folling away from that doctrine for some time, moreso over the last 6 years. In the current age of executive signing statements, domestic survellince, warrantless arrests and detentions, etc. one would be hard pressed to trust the government.\n\nThe founders of this country didn't trust their own government they created. Why should we trust ours?\n\n~X~
192199
Federal Law supercedes state law if they conflict.  However states can create and pass additional laws as long as the are not in violation with our constitutional rights.  That is why different states have different variations of the same basic law.
646307
Amendments to the Constitution are for limitation on what the government can and cannot do.  The First Amendment guarantees the government cannot restrict our speech, our press, our religion, our ability to ask the government to do something, or our right to assemble.  The Amendments are great as long as they are about what the government can't do.  We get into serious problems when we use the Amendments to restrict the people.  I give you Prohabition (the 18th Amendment).  This was the only Amendment that restricted the people and it was a failure that required another Amendment (21)to recind it and helped organized crime become a dominant figure in American history and criminalize marijuana.  Our government and especially our president should not attempt to use the Constitution to limit the people.  The objective of the Bill of Rights written by the Anti-Federalists was to offer protection to the people from a possibly abusive government.  It was not to carry on a right wing conservative agenda.
26517
You're correct. \n\nThe Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights is \n"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
407413
There are relatively few in the constitution, excluding the bill of rights, because the constitution is largely a government-organizing document, including power sharing among the three branches. (One of the reasons that the Antifederalists objected to the Constitution as written was that it did not include many specific restrictions on governmental authority, but rather which branch could do what.)\n\nThere are some restrictions.\nFor instance, Congress has only the enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8.  If a law does not fall within those powers, then Congress cannot enact it.\nThere are also Congressional actions which are expressly forbidden: (Article 1 Section 9) such as\n(a) No bills of attainder or ex post facto laws\n(b) No suspension of habeas corpus unless in times of invasion or rebellion\n(c) Public monies may not be spent except by appropriation and accounting by Congress\n(d) no import taxes or duties on interstate transportation.\n\nThere are also a few other "rights" -- such as the "republican form of government" clause in Article IV -- which guarantees that each state will have a republican form of government (i.e. electing representatives) and In Article III section 2 -- which guarantees a trial by jury for the trial of "all crimes."\n\nFor a complete list, simply read the Constitution without the amendments:\n\nhttp://www.usconstitution.net/const.htm
196847
The constitution does not say that only citizens are protected by the 4th-8th Amendments, it merely says, "no person." You would want to be given the same rights of citizens if charged in another country, wouldn't you? In fact, the public tends to get up in arms, even when someone IS given the same rights and is given a harsh punishment.
330766
In the most broad sense, the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights are attempts to form constitutional governments where the respective government (either the king or congress) have some restrictions placed on them and where the people are given certain liberties.\n\nSome resources for you,\nhttp://www.billofrights.com/MagnaCarta.htm\n\nHere are the wiki links, if you care to read them,\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
595633
The best thing you could do for yourself is to read and become knowledgeable of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.\n\nIf you do that, you'll develop a sense of that's right and what's wrong when it comes to politics.\n\nHere's the Bill of Rights.  Look at it as a contract.  It was written to protect the citizens from the government.\n\nhttp://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html\n\nNext up:  The Constitution\n\nhttp://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html
574400
After reading these answers, I recomend ALL of you read the Constitution.  None of you have shown much knowledge of the text.  BTW neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights uses the phrase 'Separation of Church and State' or the word Church for that matter.  "Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"  How many people remember the second part of that sentence?
567343
Whether you believe we need it or not, the Preamble and the Bill of Rights, which the Founding Fathers found so important they called them the Rights Which We Hold True. The Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments) are not to be changed, and can not be changed, by law. If we were to give in, change them because we no longer think it is valid, how soon until the right to free speech, the press, freedom from quartering, search and seizure, the right vote, all become obsolete in someone's opinion, and removed.\n\nNo, need it or not, it must stand, because it is part of what we stand for, as a nation, from day one.
605563
I think from inception to present day there have been thousands of examples where the Constitution has been used in ways both agreeing and disagreeing with what the framers intended. The framework, however, has maintained the same position. Positives include the emergence of the Judicial branch (Judicial review ala Marberry v. Madison) as a protector of the rights of the people (in theory anyway, several recent decisions  have made you scratch your head). Negatives include the emergence of the bureaucracy and the welfare state. \n\nThe bill of rights has changed from time to time often based on the whims of society (prohibition anyone?). They are the protection of the people against the tyranny of government. The bill of rights is designed exclusively as a LIMITATION of government, not to protect the government from the people. Remember, a well intentioned government can round you up and put you in camps just as quickly as one with bad intent. At that point, whether it is behind a smile or the point of a gun makes no difference, right?\n\nThe declaration of independence is a reminder to the people that government can be changed when it loses the consent of the governed.
647045
Start with the first amendment. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, assembly and petition.\nDo you belong to a religious minority? Write about how the bill of rights protects your freedom to worship the way you want.\nOr maybe you have an unpopular opinion. The first amendment protects your right to speak out.\n\nIf you have ever been in trouble with the law (or know someone who was), you can write about how the bill of rights protects people who are accused of a crime.\n\nI have been collecting signatures on a petition to bring the troops home recently, and it has been an interesting exercise in the first amendment. The right to question the government is the most fundamental of rights -- it underlies everything else.
441323
There never was a such thing as privacy, Mack. The government has all kinds of information about you and I. As long as we have a social security number, the government can literally bring up a whole mountain of information on anybody in an instant. So, really the bill of rights protects civil liberties to an extent. You can say what you want as long as it is true, otherwise it's slander and you can be sued, and you can have the right to an attorney paid for by the courts, but you only get a public defender.
252530
1.  B.  The order is Speaker of the House, then President Pro Tempore of the Senate, then the Cabinet positions in order of their creation (State is first).\n\n2.  A.  Only because many state constitutions have a Bill of Rights incorporated into the document (see the Illinois Constitution) and not as a separate set of amendments.\n\n3.  A.  A bill originating in the Senate would be SR.
214809
the 9th amendment protects ALL other rights that aren't mentioned in the Bill of Rights. the people of the US aren't limited to JUST those rights, and all their other rights must be upheld in the court of law\n\nthat article explains it very well!
260740
The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. It created a federal union of sovereign states, and a federal government to operate that union. It replaced the less well-defined union that existed under the Articles of Confederation.\n\nDuring the Revolutionary War, the thirteen states first formed a very weak central government—with the Congress being its only component—under the Articles of Confederation. Congress lacked any power to impose taxes, and, because there was no national executive or judiciary, it relied on state authorities, who were often uncooperative, to enforce all its acts. It also had no authority to override tax laws and tariffs between states. The Articles required unanimous consent from all the states before they could be amended and states took the central government so lightly that their representatives were often absent. For lack of a quorum, Congress was frequently blocked from making even moderate changes.