The personal freedoms accorded throughout the Constitution and its many amendments are an essential protection against government tyranny and reflect the inherent rights of every person in the United States. These include:

Freedom of expression: Democracy depends on freedom of speech and the press. The government has no right to intimidate or punish anyone simply on the basis of their views and ideas.

Criminal justice: Those suspected and accused of crimes are protected by many provisions of the Bill of Rights, including those limiting police searches and arrests, ensuring the privilege against self-incrimination, and providing for fair trials. These rights are imperative to protect individual freedom and prevent abuses by the government.

Personal autonomy: Our society respects fundamental aspects of autonomy, including the liberty to make important decisions about one’s life.

Equality is a precondition of freedom. We all are free only when all of us, not just some of us, are free from discrimination, exclusion, and threat. Without equality for all, freedom for all is a broken promise.

Equality of difference: Our differences are our strength, not our weakness. Where autocracy and authoritarianism demand allegiance to uniformity, democracy demands the opposite—differences of people and opinion.

Equality of voice: Every person’s voice is of equal worth, and every person’s voice is equal, whether in the workplace, the public square, or the voting booth.

Equality of opportunity: Equality of opportunity is a right, not a privilege. Everyone is guaranteed the opportunities of education, employment, and participation in our democracy—regard-less of their color, walk of life, social status, poverty or wealth.

Equality under law: Every person is equal in the eyes of the law, and equality under law is guaranteed only when the government’s decisions about our lives are free of discrimination, racism, prejudice, bias, and favoritism.

In a democracy, voters elect their leaders, and elected candidates make the law. Our democratic republic functions best when Americans accept, honor, and respect election results. To achieve this outcome, elections must be conducted in a fair manner.

Voting: A democratic society must enfranchise voters to the fullest extent possible, make elections open and accessible, and refrain from erecting unnecessary barriers to voting. Voter suppression is antithetical to democracy, and it exists when eligible voters are unable to register to vote, cast a ballot, or have that ballot counted.

Peaceful transfer of power: Our constitutional republic depends upon our shared commitment to the peaceful transfer of power, regardless of whether our preferred candidate wins. 

Judicial review of elections: To ensure fair elections, aggrieved candidates must be able to invoke the judicial process to challenge the results of elections when the facts and law so justify, and in return are obligated to respect the important work of election officials and any resulting judicial decisions. However, baseless claims of fraud in an election undermine public confidence in a trustworthy election administration system.

To preserve liberty, fairness, and the stability of our democratic society, the exercise of power by the government and other actors must be limited by law. This rule of law requires:

Equality under the law: All people, no matter their station, stand equal before the law, subject to the same rules, protections, privileges, and sanctions. 

Due process of law: Before the government may deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, the individual must have a meaningful opportunity to challenge the legality of the deprivation before an independent and neutral adjudicator.

Neutrality: Law enforcement—investigations, prosecutions, adjudications, and pardons—must be conducted according to law, with respect for human dignity, and without regard to the personal or political interests of the executive.

Access to Justice: All people should have meaningful ability to vindicate their rights and interests in court before an independent and neutral decisionmaker, particularly when subject to suit or prosecution by the government.

Judicial independence: The rule of law cannot be preserved without an independent judiciary that is neither subject to intimidation by the executive or legislative branches of government, nor beholden to the demands of political parties. 

Accountability: Government officials must conform their actions to the law and be checked by other branches of government, as well as the people, to prevent the abuse of power and abrogation of the public trust.

A fundamental structural feature of the Constitution, and its chief safeguard of our liberty, is avoiding the concentration of power by separating and placing limits upon the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government among three branches that check, balance, and respect each other’s power. 

Responsibility of each branch of government: Congress alone possesses the legislative power, which is limited to that authority enumerated in the Constitution. Presidents are not Kings; their power must come from the Constitution or a statute passed by Congress and may not be applied to violate the constitutional rights of others. And it is “emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.”

National defense: The federal government must provide for the common defense, which today means protecting the United States, supporting our allies overseas, and preventing foreign interference from disrupting our political system. But whether the federal government is protecting national security or fulfilling its domestic responsibilities, it must adhere to the limits of its legal authority.

Respect for state sovereignty: The American system of government divides power between the national government and state governments. States may do all that is not prohibited by the Constitution or federal law.