Civil rights are the protections and privileges of personal liberty given to all citizens by law. Civil rights are distinguished from "human rights" or "natural rights"—civil rights are rights that are bestowed by nations on those within their territorial boundaries, while natural or human rights are rights that many scholars claim ought to belong to all people. For example, the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) argued that the natural rights of life, liberty and property should be converted into civil rights and protected by the sovereign state as an aspect of the social contract. Others have argued that people acquire rights as an inalienable gift from the deity or at a time of nature before governments were formed.

Laws guaranteeing civil rights may be written, derived from custom or implied. In the United States and most continental European countries, civil rights laws are most often written. In the United States, for example, laws protecting civil rights appear in the Constitution, in the amendments to the Constitution (particularly the 13th and 14th Amendments), in federal statutes, in state constitutions and statutes and even in the ordinances of counties and cities. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, such rights are frequently granted by custom and are not memorialized in written law. "Implied" rights are rights that a court may find to exist even though not expressly guaranteed by written law or custom, on the theory that a written or customary right must necessarily include the implied right. One famous (and controversial) example of a right implied from the U.S. Constitution is the "right to privacy", which the U.S. Supreme Court found to exist in the 1965 case of Griswold v. Connecticut. In the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade, the Court found that state legislation prohibiting or limiting abortion violated this right to privacy.

State governments can expand civil rights beyond the U.S. Constitution, but they cannot diminish Constitutional rights. For example, some American cities make it illegal to discriminate against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation, thus expanding the civil rights of homosexuals; however, cities which create school districts in such a way that the districts discriminate against students on the basis of their race will have injunctions entered against them by the federal courts. States frequently grant civil rights in excess of federal law, such as Article 21 of the Maryland Constitution, which requires that a jury be unanimous in order to convict a person of a crime.

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Raw milk as a civil rights issue. If it's not a public health crisis, why all the attention to limiting our access? http://bit.ly/1pa6wm
davidgumpert (David Gumpert) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:38:35 -0000
Raw milk as a civil rights issue. If it's not a public health crisis, why all the attention to limiting our access? http://bit.ly/1pa6wm
RT @CathyAtTheFund Raw Milk Revolution: The Civil Rights Movement of Food? : TreeHugger http://bit.ly/11zWgR #farm #dairy #food #wapf #news
herdshare (herdshare.com) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:30:16 -0000
RT @CathyAtTheFund Raw Milk Revolution: The Civil Rights Movement of Food? : TreeHugger http://bit.ly/11zWgR #farm #dairy #food #wapf #news
Famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, who was known as the `mother of the modern-day civil rights movement`?
quizquestions (Bubble Tree) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:28:24 -0000
Famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, who was known as the `mother of the modern-day civil rights movement`?
Double feature film fundraiser for mumia friday nov 6th: FUNDRAISER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN EVENTS IN ... 521.. http://bit.ly/3AmNYg
whatsonamstrdam (What's On Amsterdam?) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:12:08 -0000
Double feature film fundraiser for mumia friday nov 6th: FUNDRAISER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN EVENTS IN ... 521.. http://bit.ly/3AmNYg
RT @shitmydadsays: "Just pay the ticket. Don't be outraged. You're not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked."
steveschale (Steve Schale) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:05:47 -0000
RT @shitmydadsays: "Just pay the ticket. Don't be outraged. You're not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked."
vote to APPROVE Ref. 71!!!! Gay rights are CIVIL RIGHTS!!
just_beth (Bethany Harrington) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:56:51 -0000
vote to APPROVE Ref. 71!!!! Gay rights are CIVIL RIGHTS!!

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