Jake Lanwarne
Q1.) Examine the ways in which rights and liberties are protected in the USA and UK. (12
marks)
Within the UK and USA, the ways in which rights and liberties are protected differs.One of the
ways in which this difference can be seen is through the way the constitution protects rights and
liberties.In the UK the constitution is an uncodified document, providing a more limited level of
rights protection due to being easily changeable through a simple majority, for example
constitutional change is very common, with different governments having different visions for
rights protection ,for example Cameron’s government pushed for a British Bill of rights,whereas
other governments such as Blair’s Labour allowed the creation of the supreme court through the
2005 constitutional reform act ,showing an ever changing level of rights and liberties protection
as they can be given or taken away, this leads to rights being more culturally protected in the
USA rather than legislatively.In contrast, this differs in the USA with their constitution being
much more set in stone, this makes it much harder to take away rights, with entrenched
amendments requiring a ⅔ majority in both houses as well as the states.This allows rights such
as the right to own guns to be heavily protected under the 2nd amendment, with these
constitutional amendments forming a rights based culture that heavily differs from the UK, this
shows a difference in the level of rights and liberties protected by the USA’s compared to the
UK’s constitution.
A second way in which rights and liberties are protected in the UK and the USA is through the
supreme court.Within the UK the Supreme court acts as a separate judiciary, created in 2009
under the 2005 constitutional reform act and being made up of 12 judges.The UK supreme court
can protect rights through enacting an act of incompatibility (or ultra vires) upon uk
laws,however this has a limited level of success,with the sovereignty of parliament allowing
them to effectively ignore the supreme court, however their main way of protecting rights and
liberties due to the public pressure their rulings can help to put on to government,for example
the blocking of the Rwanda deportations under the ECHR’s legislation.In comparison, it can be
seen that the powers of the USA’s supreme court and their ability to protect rights differs from
the UK somewhat, while still being a separate judiciary, the USA’s tripartite system allows their
supreme court much more checks and balances over the executive and legislative branches of
government.These checks allow for a strong level of rights protection , with rulings protecting
the right to gay marriage (oberfell v hodges) , as well as the right to abortion (roe v wade).This
shows the USA supreme court has a much greater power to protect rights and liberties than the
UK due to the sweeping powers it has over the other branches of government.
Q1.) Examine the ways in which rights and liberties are protected in the USA and UK. (12
marks)
Within the UK and USA, the ways in which rights and liberties are protected differs.One of the
ways in which this difference can be seen is through the way the constitution protects rights and
liberties.In the UK the constitution is an uncodified document, providing a more limited level of
rights protection due to being easily changeable through a simple majority, for example
constitutional change is very common, with different governments having different visions for
rights protection ,for example Cameron’s government pushed for a British Bill of rights,whereas
other governments such as Blair’s Labour allowed the creation of the supreme court through the
2005 constitutional reform act ,showing an ever changing level of rights and liberties protection
as they can be given or taken away, this leads to rights being more culturally protected in the
USA rather than legislatively.In contrast, this differs in the USA with their constitution being
much more set in stone, this makes it much harder to take away rights, with entrenched
amendments requiring a ⅔ majority in both houses as well as the states.This allows rights such
as the right to own guns to be heavily protected under the 2nd amendment, with these
constitutional amendments forming a rights based culture that heavily differs from the UK, this
shows a difference in the level of rights and liberties protected by the USA’s compared to the
UK’s constitution.
A second way in which rights and liberties are protected in the UK and the USA is through the
supreme court.Within the UK the Supreme court acts as a separate judiciary, created in 2009
under the 2005 constitutional reform act and being made up of 12 judges.The UK supreme court
can protect rights through enacting an act of incompatibility (or ultra vires) upon uk
laws,however this has a limited level of success,with the sovereignty of parliament allowing
them to effectively ignore the supreme court, however their main way of protecting rights and
liberties due to the public pressure their rulings can help to put on to government,for example
the blocking of the Rwanda deportations under the ECHR’s legislation.In comparison, it can be
seen that the powers of the USA’s supreme court and their ability to protect rights differs from
the UK somewhat, while still being a separate judiciary, the USA’s tripartite system allows their
supreme court much more checks and balances over the executive and legislative branches of
government.These checks allow for a strong level of rights protection , with rulings protecting
the right to gay marriage (oberfell v hodges) , as well as the right to abortion (roe v wade).This
shows the USA supreme court has a much greater power to protect rights and liberties than the
UK due to the sweeping powers it has over the other branches of government.
