Understanding The Purpose Of Constitutional Law In The United States

This article helps you understand the purpose of constitutional law in the United States and how some constitutional law cases have changed the legal industry forever.

Constitutional law is a corpus of legislation that deals with the fundamental principles by which the government exercises its authority and gets based on a ratified constitution or comparable formative charter. These principles outline the duties and functions of the several branches of government and the rights of people.

What Is Constitutional Law?

Constitutional law establishes the authority of government and the rights of people. It serves as the foundation for all other procedural and substantive legislation in the country.

Constitutional law gets drawn from a written text in most countries, such as the United States Constitution. It got adopted as part of the formation of the US. While every political subdivision of the country, such as states and provinces, may have its constitutions, the term "constitutional law" refers to the federal legislation of the government.

In most federal countries, including the United States and Canada, constitutional law specifies the relationship and powers distribution among the central government and the state, provincial, or territory governments. In most circumstances, constitutional law evolves through time. It gets updated by the legislative or parliamentary branch of the government and interpreted by its judicial branch.

The establishment and preservation of human rights and civil liberties, legislative powers, the division of governmental functions, and the assurance of protection under the rule of law are all common aspects of constitutional law outline.

Civil Liberties and Human Rights

Human rights and civil liberties are the essential parts of constitutional law that protect the rights and freedoms of an individual from government acts. Human rights refer to all innate rights and freedoms of people, regardless of where they reside, such as religious freedom and freedom from captivity. Civil liberties are the rights and independence bestowed on individuals by a constitution, such as the right to a jury trial or protection from arbitrary police searches and seizures.

Legislative Procedure

The norms and procedures by which governments legislate, or enact laws, are established by constitutional law. The process of making new laws or changing the current one, the technique of revising the constitution, and the terms or years the legislative body’s member may serve are all examples.

Separation of powers

Separation of powers is a legal concept that refers to the separation of powers between

Constitutional law distributes the power of the central government into three functional branches. In most modern countries, an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch are the most common branches. The majority of constitutions divide governmental authorities that no one segment can rule over the others.

Rule of Law

The constitutions of almost every country establish the notion of "the rule of law," which holds all citizens, institutions, and enterprises within the country—including the government—equally accountable to the laws made by the central authority. The goal of constitutional law is to make sure that these laws are:

Publicly enacted: The procedures for enacting and enforcing laws are transparent, intelligible, and accessible to the people.

Equally enforced: Laws must be clearly written, widely known, stable, and applied consistently.

Basic rights protection: Fundamental rights of every individual, such as civil liberties and human rights, must be protected by the law.

Independently administered: Judges who are objective, politically neutral, and reflect the character of the communities they serve must interpret and apply the laws.

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What Is the Bill Of Rights?

A bill of rights is also known as a declaration or a charter of rights. It comprises a list of vital rights that the country grants to its citizens. The aim is to safeguard those rights from governmental officials and private persons infringing on them.

The first ten amendments of the United States Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. It outlines the Americans’ rights concerning their government. Individual civil rights and liberties are guaranteed, like freedom of speech, press, and religion.

It establishes norms for due process of law and delegates to the people and states all powers not delegated to the federal government. It further states that "the enumeration of some rights in the Constitution shall not get construed to reject or degrade other rights reserved by the people."

The First Amendment protects various rights, including the right to express ideas through speech and the press, the right to assemble or meet with a group for protest or other purposes, and the right to petition the government to rectify problems. It also safeguards the freedom to follow your choice of religion, views, and practices. It makes it illegal for the government to create or favor religion.

The right to keep and bear arms gets guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Under the Third Amendment, the government cannot compel homeowners to enable soldiers to use their homes. Before the Revolutionary War, legislation allowed British soldiers to take over private residences.

The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government from searching or seizing a private property of an individual without a warrant.

The Fifth Amendment protects those accused of crimes in numerous ways. A grand jury must initiate serious criminal charges, according to the law. A person cannot get tried twice for the same crime (double jeopardy) or have their property taken away without due process. People have the right to get free from self-incrimination, and no one can imprison them without first going through the legal system (fair procedures and trials.)

People accused of crimes have additional rights under the Sixth Amendment, including the right to a timely and public trial, a trial by an impartial jury in criminal matters, and the right to be informed of criminal accusations. Witnesses must testify in front of the accused. They can call their witnesses and must have a lawyer to represent them.

In federal civil disputes, the right to a jury trial gets extended by the Seventh Amendment.

Excessive bail and fines, and cruel and unusual punishment, are prohibited under the Eighth Amendment.

According to the Ninth Amendment, just because a specific right gets listed in the constitution, it does not indicate that people do not have other rights that do not get explicitly stated.

According to the Tenth Amendment, the federal government possesses only those powers granted by the constitution. It belongs to the states or the people if not mentioned.

Explain Some Constitutional Law Principles and Policies

The study of the text and substance of the United States Constitution, and the evolution over the last 220 years, is known as constitutional law. It has the charge of interpreting and enforcing the constitution and establishing the scopes of law that fall under its purview.

The nature of the relationship between the federal and state governments, and the capacity of judicial review, can break down any issues. It is because constitutional law is a broad, complex, and ambiguous field.

Some constitutional historians argue that the authors intended it to be a living document that they can interpret and adapt as needed. Others say that the provisions must get carefully construed. With this, their contents must get applied in a literal, strict constructionist manner.

Understanding the judicial arm of government is the better place to start when learning about constitutional law. At its most basic level, this boils down to an understanding of the authority of judicial review and the structure of the dual court system.

Initially, judicial review refers to the capacity of the court to consider constitutional challenges to federal and state legislation, with court judgments binding on both the legislative and executive arms of government. If the court judges these statutes to be unconstitutional, the court has no choice but to strike them down.

The concept of self-restraint is central to the judicial review principle. Because judicial decisions have such a strong binding effect on the other two branches of government, the Supreme Court of the United States maintains the balance of power between the three branches of government by exercising self-control. The Supreme Court has constructed a doctrine, practice, and jurisprudence system that limits its judicial review authority.

Constitutional law also necessitates an understanding of the dual court system. The United States has a federal and state court system, each with its own powers and jurisdictions. Article III of the Constitution established the federal courts, which get administered by acts of Congress.

The initial structure of the federal court system got established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. State court systems differ from state to state and get governed by state constitutions. The state and federal courts have independent and concurrent authorities outlined in the constitution but have evolved.

The Bill of Rights is a critical document in studying constitutional law. The first ten amendments of the United States Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. These amendments intend to soothe the anxieties of Anti-Federalists who feared that the Constitution granted the federal government too much power.

The Bill of Rights intends to apply to the federal government at first. After enacting the Fourteenth Amendment, the rights got extended to each state in a process known as incorporation.

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What Are Some Famous Constitutional Law Cases That Changed The Legal Industry Of The US?

Since the court’s establishment in 1789, the country has witnessed landmark Supreme Court rulings. These rulings have single-handedly transformed the legal industry and the lives of Americans. Many Supreme Court rulings have influenced the rights given to women, race relations, freedom of expression, and other issues.

The court has faced criticism for decisions that exacerbated social divisions and harmed minority groups. Several noteworthy Supreme Court decisions have lasted the test of time and continue to impact Americans' rights today, regardless of the conclusion.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

The principle of judicial review, or the power of a federal court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional, was established by the March 1803 decision. President John Adams appointed several justices in this case, one of whom was William Marbury, before his term. Those positions got revoked after the advent of James Madison as the new Secretary of State. Marbury and his colleagues sued to reclaim their appointed seats but got defeated in a 6-0 verdict.

It is the first time the Supreme Court has declared a law passed by Congress unconstitutional.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

In April of 1846, an enslaved Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet Scott, filed a lawsuit seeking their freedom. They sued their owner, Irene Emerson, claiming that Missouri statutes enabled any person of color to suit unjust enslavement. Along with this, anyone taken to an independent region was considered free. No one had the right to enslave them even if they returned to a slave state.

Dred and Harriet both lived in the regions of Illinois and Wisconsin at the time, which made them legally independent. Unfortunately, on June 30, 1847, the court dismissed their claims, forcing a new trial.

In Dred Scott v. Sandford, the courts never reached a conclusive decision. Instead, Irene Emerson remarried a US congressman and abolitionist who was ashamed that she possessed slaves, and the Scotts got freed. The Scotts got sold to their original owner, Taylor Blow, who eventually released them on May 26, 1857.

Dred Scott v. Sandford gets credited for igniting numerous anti-slavery campaigns in the United States and triggering the Civil War.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

In court filings, Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, was pregnant when she filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Texas. In 1971, Roe challenged the statute enforced by Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, which stated that abortions are unlawful unless they perform it to preserve the mother's life.

In this case, the constitutional right to privacy got questioned. Along with this, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gets ultimately violated. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that states can only restrict abortions near the end of pregnancy to protect the woman's or fetus’ life.

The Roe v. Wade judgment influenced more than 43 state legislation and continues to be a topic of debate in the United States. Women's rights movements get fueled, and the legality and constitutionality of abortions get called into doubt.

For decades, legislators, activists, and non-profit groups have fought to protect the Roe vs.Wade ruling. Abortion laws differ from state to state, and they get continually challenged as Supreme Court seats change and political perspectives shift.

To Conclude

Therefore, the rights spelled forth in the federal and state constitutions are known as constitutional law. The majority of this body of law stems from state and federal supreme court decisions that interpret their separate constitutions and ensure that laws approved by legislatures do not break constitutional boundaries.

The Bill of Rights, which contains the first ten articles to the United States Constitution, is at the heart of most constitutional law concerns. These amendments include rights, such as freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, and the right to be free of discrimination of certain kinds.

States have their constitutions, which typically include most, if not all, of the same rights granted by the United States Constitution. Many state constitutions provide a few extra rights but, they cannot negate federal rights.

Constitutional law also covers the rights and powers of several departments of government. The federal and state constitutions establish three branches of government, each with its own set of authorities and responsibilities. Constitutional lawyers also assist in resolving inter-branch conflicts.