The central credibility test
Rights and public commitments differ in who creates them, who enforces them, what remedy exists, and how easily they change. This site keeps those differences visible.
Unless otherwise labeled, the ten guarantees are proposed public commitments—not claims about rights currently enforceable under the United States Constitution.
Comparison tool
Compare who creates each category, who enforces it, what remedy may exist, and how durable it is. Detailed explanations follow the comparison.
| Category | Created by | Enforced by | Typical remedy | Durability | Example | This site labels it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constitutional rights that restrict government | Federal Constitution and amendments | Courts; public officials; political institutions | Injunction, exclusion, damages in some settings, invalidation | Highest formal amendment barrier; interpretation can change | Protection against specified government action | Constitutional right |
| State constitutional rights | State constitution and amendments | State courts and institutions | State-law judicial and political remedies | Usually more amendable than the federal Constitution | State education or environmental provisions | State constitutional right |
| Statutory rights and entitlements | Congress or a state/local legislature | Courts, agencies, administrators | Benefit, review, damages, penalty, or injunction as authorized | Depends on legislation, funding, and judicial interpretation | A defined benefit for an eligible person | Statutory entitlement Statutory protection |
| Regulatory protections | Agency under statutory authority | Agency, courts, regulated institutions | Compliance order, penalty, administrative or judicial review | Can change with law, process, leadership, and review | Safety, privacy, market, or environmental rule | Regulatory protection |
| Public-service commitments | Law, budget, charter, or public institution | Administrators, oversight bodies, political process; courts sometimes | Service, appeal, oversight, or political accountability | Varies with funding and institutional design | A funded service available under stated rules | Public-service commitment |
| International human-rights norms | Treaty, declaration, or international institution | Depends on instrument and domestic implementation | International or domestic mechanisms, if applicable | Depends on the instrument and state practice | Universal Declaration principle | International human-rights norm |
| Aspirational civic guarantees | Public argument, platform, institution, or civic process | Political and institutional accountability until enacted | None automatically; depends on later implementation | Depends on adoption, design, and public support | The proposed Next Square Deal guarantee | Proposed policy Proposed public guarantee Aspirational principle |
| Proposed constitutional amendments | Proposal under constitutional amendment process | Not enforceable before ratification | None as constitutional law before ratification | If ratified, constitutional; before then, proposal only | An economic-rights amendment proposal | Proposed policy |
Eight legal and civic categories
These summaries are educational working material, not personal legal advice. Doctrine and state law require jurisdiction-specific research.
Some constitutional rights primarily limit what government may do. Courts can provide remedies in a proper case, but the scope, remedy, and applicable level of government depend on doctrine and facts.
State constitutions can recognize rights and governmental duties that are framed differently from the federal Constitution. Their scope and enforceability vary by state.
Legislatures can create eligibility, benefits, duties, causes of action, and appeal rights. These can be enforceable without being constitutional, and later legislation can amend them.
Agencies implement authority granted by law through rules, guidance, inspections, adjudication, and enforcement. A rule cannot legitimately outrun its legal authority.
A community may commit to provide schools, transit, libraries, clinics, utilities, or other services. Real access depends on budgets, capacity, geography, eligibility, and administration.
International instruments can express principles, bind states under specified conditions, or guide interpretation and policy. An international principle is not automatically a directly enforceable U.S. domestic claim.
The official text of the Universal Declaration provides the international historical baseline; domestic effect must be analyzed separately.
A public commitment can guide legislation, budgeting, administration, organizing, measurement, and criticism without already being law. This is the default status of the ten guarantees on this site.
Evidence
Source type, role, and limitations are shown so readers can judge what each item can—and cannot—support.
Congress.gov, Library of Congress
The constitutional text, amendments, and links to the congressionally prepared Constitution Annotated.
Limits: The constitutional text must be read with case law and doctrine; this entry is not a substitute for legal advice or a current issue-specific survey.
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives presentation and transcript of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.
Limits: The document's text does not by itself explain modern incorporation, remedies, or the boundary between governmental and private conduct.
Constitution Annotated, Congress.gov
A congressional legal reference organizing the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship, due process, equal protection, incorporation, and voting-rights doctrine.
Limits: This is a high-level entry point into a large body of doctrine; legal conclusions require attention to the specific issue, jurisdiction, and current cases.
United Nations
The General Assembly declaration setting out a common standard of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms.
Limits: The declaration is an international norm and historical reference; it is not by itself a directly enforceable domestic claim in United States courts.
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The text of Roosevelt's 1944 annual message proposing an economic bill of rights concerned with work, food, housing, health, education, and security.
Limits: The address was a presidential proposal, not an enacted constitutional amendment, and its broad language does not settle institutional design.