first-generation rights

(noun)

First-generation human rights, often called "blue" rights, deal essentially with liberty and participation in political life. They are fundamentally civil and political in nature, as well as strongly individualistic: They serve negatively to protect the individual from excesses of the state. First-generation rights include, among other things, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion and voting rights. The idea of three levels of human rights dates to 1979 and is primarily used in European law. This term is rarely, if ever, used in the U.S.

Related Terms

Examples of first-generation rights in the following topics:

  • The Rights of the Accused

    • The rights of the accused include the right to a fair trial; due process; and the right to privacy.
    • First-generation human rights, often called "blue" rights, deal essentially with liberty and participation in political life.
    • First-generation rights include, among other things, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion and voting rights.
    • They comprise the first portion of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (with economic, social and cultural rights comprising the second portion).
    • The theory of three generations of human rights considers this group of rights to be "first-generation rights", and the theory of negative and positive rights considers them to be generally negative rights.

  • The First Amendment

    • For example, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech to the general populace but the English Bill of Rights protected only free speech in Parliament .
    • Lastly, the First Amendment was one of the first guarantees of religious freedom: neither the English Bill of Rights nor the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen contain a similar guarantee.
    • The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to a free press.
    • The US Bill of Rights drew many of its First Amendment provisions from other countries' bill of rights, such as the English Bill of Rights.
    • Compare and contrast civil rights with civil liberties with respect to the First Amendment

  • Freedom of Assembly and Petition

    • The First Amendment establishes the right to assembly and the right to petition the government.
    • The Petition Clause in the First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law… abridging … the right of the people… to petition the government for a redress of grievances. " The Petition Clause prohibits Congress from restricting the people's right to appeal to government in favor of or against policies that affect them or about which they feel strongly, including the right to gather signatures in support of a cause and to lobby legislative bodies for or against legislation.
    • Freedom of assembly and freedom of association may be used to distinguish between the freedom to assemble in public places and the freedom of joining an association, but both are recognized as rights under the First Amendment's provision on freedom of assembly.
    • The right of assembly was originally distinguished from the right to petition.
    • The right to petition is generally concerned with expression directed to the government seeking redress of a grievance, while the right to assemble is speaking more so to the right of Americans to gather together.

  • The Right to Privacy

    • This was first recognized by several Supreme Court Justices in Griswold v.
    • The article is widely regarded as the first publication in the United States to advocate a right to privacy, articulating that right primarily as a right to be left alone.
    • However, in truth it was inspired by more general coverage of intimate personal lives in society columns of newspapers.
    • The First Amendment protects the right to free assembly, broadening privacy rights.
    • This was first recognized by several Supreme Court Justices in Griswold v.

  • The Civil Rights Acts

    • It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial discrimination in schools, at the workplace, and by facilities that served the general public.
    • Attorney General to join in lawsuits against state governments which operated segregated school systems.
    • The Civil Rights Act was followed by the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Johnson in 1965.
    • The Act established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states and local governments with a history of discriminatory voting practices could not implement any change affecting voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance.
    • Compare and contrast the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

  • The First Spouse

    • Lady Bird Johnson pioneered environmental protection and beautification; Pat Nixon encouraged volunteerism and traveled extensively abroad; Betty Ford supported women's rights; Rosalynn Carter aided those with mental disabilities; Nancy Reagan founded the Just Say No drug awareness campaign; Barbara Bush promoted literacy; Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to reform the healthcare system in the U.S.; and Laura Bush supported women's rights groups and encouraged childhood literacy.
    • In the early days of the United States, there was not a generally accepted title for the wife of the president.
    • The role of the First Lady has evolved over the centuries.
    • She is, first and foremost, the hostess of the White House.
    • First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush (standing, left to right), Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter, and Betty Ford (seated, left to right) at the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, November 1991.

  • The Feminist Movement

    • The second wave, generally taking place from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, was concerned with cultural and political inequalities, which feminists perceived as being inextricably linked.
    • Despite this, many American women achieved many political firsts in the 2000s.
    • In 2007, Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives.
    • First-wave feminists marching for women's suffrage.
    • The first wave of women's feminism focused on suffrage, while subsequent feminist efforts have expanded to focus on equal pay, reproductive rights, sexual harassment, and others.

  • Nationalizing the Bill of Rights

    • However, beginning in the 1920s, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to "incorporate" most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments.
    • Some argued that the Bill of Rights should be fully incorporated.
    • On the other hand, some believed that incorporation should be selective, in that only the rights deemed fundamental (like the rights protected under the First Amendment) should be applied to the states, and it should be a gradual process.
    • Black called for the nationalization of the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 9 and 10 being patently connected to the powers of the federal government alone), and his most famous expression of this belief is found in his dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case, Adamson v.
    • The Fourteenth Amendment, depicted here, allowed for the incorporation of the First Amendment against the states.

  • The Sixth Amendment and the Right to Counsel

    • The Assistance of Counsel Clause in the Sixth Amendment allows to any person accused the right to counsel for his defense.
    • The assistance of counsel clause includes, as relevant here, five distinct rights:
    • The remedy for erroneous depravation of first choice counsel is automatic reversal.
    • The general rule is that conflicts can be knowingly and intelligently waived, but some conflicts are non-waiveable.
    • Some states extend the right to counsel to all matters where a defendant's liberty interest is threatened.

  • The First Amendment

    • The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights.
    • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
    • State the restrictions imposed upon the federal government and the rights accorded individuals by the 1st Amendment