What are individual rights?

Individual rights are the freedoms and protections that belong to each person and that government cannot infringe except under specific constitutional rules. The American conception of individual rights was shaped by the Enlightenment idea that all people possess natural rights simply by being human, by the English common law tradition of liberties developed since the Magna Carta of 1215, and by the colonial experience of resisting arbitrary British rule. The Declaration of Independence in 1776 framed the most basic of these as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, made specific guarantees enforceable against the federal government, and the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, extended most of them against state governments through the doctrine of incorporation developed by the Supreme Court across the twentieth century. Concrete individual rights protected by the Constitution include freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition under the First Amendment; the right to keep and bear arms under the Second; freedom from peacetime quartering of soldiers under the Third; freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth; the right to grand jury indictment, freedom from double jeopardy and self-incrimination, due process, and just compensation for takings under the Fifth; the rights to a speedy and public trial, an impartial jury, confrontation, compulsory process, and counsel under the Sixth; civil jury trial under the Seventh; and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, excessive bail, and excessive fines under the Eighth.

The Ninth Amendment confirms that the listed rights are not exhaustive; people retain other rights as well. The Fourteenth Amendment adds equal protection of the laws, due process against the states, and citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. Other amendments protect voting rights, bar slavery, and limit certain kinds of taxation. Individual rights apply to citizens and non-citizens within the United States, with limited exceptions like the right to vote. They are enforceable in court, primarily through suits against government officials and lawsuits asserting constitutional defenses to government action. They limit majorities and officials alike, which is why constitutional litigation often pits individuals against popular legislation.