Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 4th Oct 2011 13:31 UTC
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RE[5]: What human rights violations?
by AnyoneEB on Thu 6th Oct 2011 00:37
in reply to "RE[4]: What human rights violations?"
The Bill of Rights is a bit odd in that respect (for some explanation as to why, see the Federalist Papers: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Federalist_papers#Opp... ). Basically, your interpretation is essentially why some of the authors of the US Constitution did not want a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is very explicitly about the government, not the people: it does not list rights the people have, it lists (some examples of) rights the people already have independent of the Bill of Rights which the government is not allowed take away.
Of course, this is philosophy and Bill of Rights is not always interpreted as I described.




Member since:
2006-08-02
Your citation is exactly how i phrased it. Due process is a restriction on arbitrary government action in order to protect rights (life, liberty, property, etc.), not a right per se. There is a large semantic difference between the two. Similar to how requiring a warrant to search your home is a restriction placed on the power of government, it is not itself an individual right. And in following the legal requirement to acquire a valid warrant, the government is meeting its due process obligation.