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The Bill of Rights are the ten amendments to the US Constitution that were passed shortly after the Constitution was ratified. They guarantee specific individual rights.

The amendments are listed below. The items that are generally considered most significant have been bolded:

# Speech, religion, and assembly # Carry guns(there's a disagreement as to whether this right is specific to militias, or to individuals). # Not be forced to house soldiers during peace time # To be protected from being unreasonably searched. This is the amendment violated when police fail to obtain search warrants before conducting searches. This amendment has been broadly (and controversially) interpreted as a right to privacy that prevents the government from restraining any private behavior, and was the reasoning behind the Roe v Wade ruling that argued that there were only some abortions that society could vote to prohibit. # Guarantees due process of the law before imprisonment, or confiscation of property without fair compensation. Also prohibits double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same crime), and allows a person to refuse to testify against himself. This is the source of the right to remain silent. # Fair trial in criminal issues: speedy trial, impartial jury, right to an attorney, to confront witnesses, and to compel witnesses to testify. # Trial by jury in common law issues

# No excessive bail, or cruel and unusual punishment. Some have argued that this should ban capital punishment (the death penalty), arguing that even though the authors of this amendment clearly did not have that intent, that our standards have changed enough that capital punishment meets today's standard of cruel and unusual. # That the listing of certain individual rights should not be construed to deny individual rights that are not listed. # Powers not appearing in the Constitution are retained by the states, or by the people.

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15y ago

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