Candidate Series

Newt Gingrich: His anti-media plan

Using debate moments to propel his presidential election campaign.

Civil Liberties

Civil liberties derive from the U.S. Constitution and particularly its first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights.  Those include everything from religious freedom and a free press to the right to bear arms and to vote regardless of race or gender.  The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, launched a new era of debate over civil liberties as attempts to preempt foreign and domestic threats expanded the powers to law enforcement to monitor communications and collect bank and other records without requiring a warrant signed by a judge.  The holding of terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay military base without charges or access to speedy trials spawned its own controversy which continues.  Currently heading toward the U.S. Supreme court issue is a voter-approved ban on gay marriage in California, which a federal judge struck down as violating the equal-protection clause of the Constitution.  The case is now being appealed.  Questions about religious freedom are at the center of debate and protests in New York City over plans to open a mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center destroyed on 9/11 with a loss of more than 2,700 lives.

Related Legislation