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During the beginning of our nation it was said that a free society could not exist without the rights of free expression. With that the frames of our nation decided on a Bill of Rights that was to ensure that the peoples rights would be protected . Without the Bill of Rights there probably wouldn't have been a constitution in the first place because the anti-federalist such as Patrick Henry and John Hancock feared a strong central government. In order for them to sign the constitution they drafted up a Bill of Rights that was jam packed with as many rights they could think of at the time. Even then they added the 9nth amendment to make sure that any rights that were not directly said in the constitution were protected too.
In the fourteenth amendment it has the Due Process Clause in which it forbids the state and local government to act in any unfair or arbitrary way. It means that the government cannot deprive any person of their basic rights. Then there is the Equal Protection Clause which forbids the a state or local government to discriminate any person for any unreasonable purpose. Most of the rights set out against the federal government are also set out against the state and local governments as well through Supreme Court decisions involving the 14th amendment's Due Process Law. In the court case of Sheppard v. Maxwell Dr. Samuel was convicted of murdering his wife in a trial widely covered by national news. He was able to appeal his conviction claiming that the publicity made it impossible for him to get a fair trial. The court decided to reject the arguments about the "Press Freedom" overturned the conviction against him, and then was issued a new trial. as a result some judges have issued a "gag" limiting the publicity of certain cases.
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Even though the Bill of rights was already "Jam-packed" with as man y rights of the people as they could think of at the time it still wasn't enough. The anti-federalists had to find a way to ensure that the peoples rights would be protected because they were afraid of the strong federal government that they were creating, it was feared that they would end up with a controlling government again and that is exactly what they were trying to avoid. In the 9th amendment it sets out many civil rights that are guaranteed and also provides protection against government, and does not mean that that there are not other rights held by the constitution. In the court case of Roe v. Wade a Texas woman challenged a state law forbidding the artificial termination of a pregnancy, saying that she had the fundamental rights set out in the 9th amendment. The court upheld a woman's right to choose in this case, and noting that the state's "important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life". The decision struck down the stat regulation of abortion in the first three months of pregnancy and was modified by the " Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA v. Casey in 1992.
In the 2nd amendment it guarantees a right to keep and bear arms. However the Supreme court has never accepted this interpretation of the amendment. In th Supreme court case of United States v. Miller the court upheld a section of the National Firearms Act in which it made it a crime to ship sawed-off shotguns , machine guns, or silencers across state lines, unless the shipper has registered the weapons with the Treasury Department and has paid a $200.00 license tax. The court could not find if this involved the case and "Preservation... of a well-regulated militia. The 2nd amendment is NOT covered by the 14th amendments Due Process Clause.
The Establishment Clause stated that the government cannot establish a religion or promote one religion over another; the court case associted with this is Everson v. BOE. Then there is the Free Exercise Clause that stated that we(the people) have the right to believe whatever we choose to believe in, in the matters of religion associated with this clause is the court has of Cantwell v. Connecticut. Church and government are constitutionally separated in this country. In the court case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters the court argued that mandatory public school attendance unconstitutional. They had made a law requiring children to go to Public school, they were trying to get ride of Parochial schools. The outcome is that the Supreme court ruled that it was an unreasonable interference.
They also said that it was the liberty of the parents to decide to the direct up-bringing of their children. It conflicted with the Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment. In the court case McCollum v. Board of Education the court struck down the release time program. The "Release Time" program allowed public schools to release students during school hours to attend religious classes. However in the court case of Zorach v. Clauson the court upheld New York's released time program because the New York programe required that the religious classes be held in private places such as private homes. The court has once said that "only those beliefs rooted in religion are protected by the Free Exercise Clause",Sherbert v. Verner.