The United States Constitution (1787) and its twenty-seven amendments (1791- 1992) prohibit governmental deprivations of life, liberty, and property without due process of law; guarantee equal protection of the law and freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly; provide procedural protections in criminal and civil trials; and maintain affirmative rights to vote and to hold public office.
Since 1950, these constitutional guarantees of civil rights have been greatly embellished through federal legislation and adjudication. The most important legislation is the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 to 1965, and their amendments, which outlaw public and private discrimination on the basis of religion, race, color, sex, or national origin in voting, education, employment, public services and accommodations, and other contexts. More than 1,000 Supreme Court cases since 1950 have interpreted these constitutional and statutory guarantees expansively, and extended them to protect “fundamental rights” to welfare, education, travel, and sexual privacy.