constitutional

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, guaranteeing fundamental individual liberties and limiting government power.

Encyclopedia entry: Bill of Rights

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The Bill of Rights refers to the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution , which set out individual rights and liberties . Though these rights originally only applied to the federal government, through the legal doctrine of incorporation , most of the Bill of Rights is now applied to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment .

See e.g., the First Amendment as an example.

[Last reviewed in July of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team
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Encyclopedia content from Cornell LII Wex (CC-BY-NC-SA 2.5).