Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties, political and social concepts
referring to guarantees of freedom, justice, and equality that a
state may make to its citizens. Although the terms have no precise
meaning in law and are sometimes used interchangeably, distinctions
may be made. Civil rights is used to imply that the state has
a positive role in ensuring all citizens equal protection under law
and equal opportunity to exercise the privileges of citizenship and
otherwise to participate fully in national life, regardless of race,
religion, sex, or other characteristics unrelated to the worth of
the individual. Civil liberties is used to refer to
guarantees of freedom of speech, press, or religion; due process of
law; and other limitations on the power of the state to restrain or
dictate the actions of individuals. The two concepts of equality and
liberty are overlapping and interacting; equality implies the
ordering of liberty within society so that the freedom of one person
does not infringe on the rights of others.
The concept that human beings have inalienable
rights and liberties that cannot justly be violated by others or by
the state is linked to the history of democracy. It was first
expressed by the philosophers of ancient Greece. Socrates, for
example, chose to die rather than renounce the right to speak his
mind in the search for wisdom. Somewhat later the Stoic philosophers
formulated explicitly the doctrine of the rights of the individual
Traces of libertarian doctrine appear in the Bible and in the
writings of the Roman statesman Marcus Cicero and the Greek essayist
Plutarch. Such ideas, however, did not gain a permanent place in the
political structure of the Roman Empire and all but disappeared
during medieval times.
defending the individual rights and freedoms of all
people in the United States. The ACLU works to protect the civil
liberties granted by the Constitution of the United States and Bill
of Rights through litigation, legislation, and public education. The
nonpartisan organization provides lawyers and legal advice for
individuals and groups involved in local, state, and federal court
cases. It also spearheads numerous campaigns to extend more rights
to people who have traditionally been denied them, including the
rights of children, prisoners, homosexuals,
and people with mental illness. The ACLU has been involved in some
of the most celebrated U.S. legal cases and lobbying campaigns of
the 20th century.
