Tiers of Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tiers of rightfulnesss - Essay guinea pigThe Supreme tribunal has over the years extended the fundamental rights to include right to marriage, right to contraception and also right to privacy (Smith 36). The Supreme Court uses a three- level approach in determining the take aim of protection of each establishmental right. For instance, the strict scrutiny enables courts to reject any legislation that is not ge bed at fulfilling overriding government objective. The second tier is the intermediate scrutiny whereby the legislation essential indorse a substantial societal interest such as extramarital affairs. The third scrutiny is a rational relationship test whereby the legislation must relate to legitimate government objective and must protect the specific constitutional rights. The upper tier constitutional rights include the fundamental rights safeguarded by constitution such as the right to freedom of association, freedom of worship, right to counsel and right against doubl e jeopardy. Right to protection against unfair trial and cruel punishments are also fundamental rights that form the first tier of constitutional rights (Fireside 34). ... In addition, the double jeopardy protection prohibits subsequent prosecution after the conviction, acquittal and binary punishments for the same indictment. Accordingly, the constitutional right protects the accused from witnessing against himself since this may lead to self-incrimination (Smith 65). The right to protection against self-incrimination extends to custodial interrogation. The one-fifth Amendment is clear that evidence obtained illegally cannot be admissible in prosecutions even when such evidence is obtained by torture of the accused. In the case of Miranda v, Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), Ernesto Miranda had been convicted for several charges including armed robbery, assault, attempted rape and burglary. In police custody, he had confessed to the crimes and the court found him guilty (Smith 50). H owever, after his appeal, the US Supreme Court ruled that his Fifth Amendment rights had been violated since the law enforcement authorities should have warned him of the right to remain silent or provide evidence in the presence of an attorney. In addition, the right to remain silent in criminal trials prohibits the government from punishing the defendant through allowing the prosecutor to assume the guilty of defendant. This was evidenced in the case of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S 609 (1965), when the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional for California state to grant such powers to the jury and prosecutors (Vile 20). Conclusion In conclusion, constitutional rights are classified in to three tiers depending on the level of protection by the constitution. The right to fair trials in criminal charges is an upper tier constitutional right that is safeguarded