Category:Civil liberties (U.S.)

This category contains articles about civil liberties in the U.S., legislative and executive actions that affect them and their violation.

The Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia offers this distinction between civil rights and civil liberties: Civil rights is used to imply that the state has a positive role in ensuring all citizens equal protection under law and equal opportunity to exercise the privileges of citizenship and otherwise to participate fully in national life, regardless of race, religion, sex, or other characteristics unrelated to the worth of the individual.

Civil liberties is used to refer to guarantees of freedom of speech, press, or religion; to due process of law; and to other limitations on the power of the state to restrain or dictate the actions of individuals.