Amendment
Provision
First
Ensures that U.S. citizens have the right to freedom of speech, press, religion, and
peaceable assembly. Provides citizens with the right to appeal to government to redress
grievances.
Second
Establishes that the government cannot infringe upon citizens’ right to bear arms.
Establishes the importance of a militia for national security.
Third
Establishes that the government cannot quarter soldiers in private houses during
peacetime or wartime.
Fourth
States that government can only issue warrants with probable cause and protects U.S.
citizens from unwarranted search and seizure.
Fifth
Establishes rights of due process. Ensures that indictment of a grand jury is necessary to
put a citizen on trial and grants citizens the right not to testify against themselves.
Sixth
Provides citizens with the right to an expeditious public trial, the right to an attorney, and
the right to an impartial jury.
Seventh
States that citizens have the right to a trial by jury for common lawsuits involving monetary
value of $20.
Eighth
Prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, prevents the imposition of excessive fines, and
states that the government cannot set bail at excessive amounts.
Ninth
States that the rights set out in the Bill of Rights do not remove any other rights granted to
citizens.
Tenth
States that any area over which the federal government is not granted authority through
the Constitution is reserved for the states.
Table 4.2
Application of the Bill of Rights to Commercial Activity
The protections afforded the citizenry in the Bill of Rights are also extended to corporations and commercial
activities. In the next sections, some applications of the various amendments in the area of business are
discussed.
The First Amendment
The freedom of speech provisions in the First Amendment have application to corporations. The courts
distinguish between different types of speech, and each has implications for the power of the federal
government and states to regulate in these areas:
1.
Corporate Political Speech. Political speech is any speech used to support political agendas or
candidates. Until the 1970s, several states prevented firms from financially supporting political advertising
because they feared the power of corporate assets. However, since the 1978 case First National Bank of
48
Chapter 4 Business and the United States Constitution
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