The United States Constitution provides that all national legislative power is vested in Congress, which consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress’s power to legislate is quite comprehensive, covering virtually every aspect of the life of the American people.
Already when the Constitution was ratified, the state legislatures, under pressure from the people, demanded that it be supplemented with articles on the rights and freedoms of citizens. They made the fulfillment of these requirements a prerequisite for the entry into force of the Constitution. Popular pressure, as well as the impact of the French Revolution, forced the legislature to adopt the first twelve amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights), which took effect in 1789.
Under the constitutional Bill of Rights and under various special provisions of law, individuals are protected from certain types of discrimination. Many of these provisions, such as those concluded in the First Amendment, relate to free speech issues, and the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures prohibit government interference in certain areas of individual activity. These provisions, usually implemented through judicial protection, express a commitment to the idea that specific individual freedoms–freedom of expression, religion, and others against unwarranted government intrusion into private life–are essential elements of a free society. These protections of privacy are commonly grouped under the term “civil liberties.
Also protected by the U.S. Constitution, federal and state laws, are individual rights to be treated equally by all citizens, regardless of their individual characteristics. These protections, usually summarized as “civil rights,” express a commitment that certain critical decisions affecting individual opportunity and material well-being are not made on the basis of individual characteristics that are irrelevant and do not constitute a fair basis in the treatment of individual individuals. These civil rights protections against such discrimination exist in both the U.S. Constitution and individual state constitutions, as well as in a host of federal and state statutes that have been enacted over the years in response to individual types of discrimination.