Entrenched Rights

Entrenched Rights can be defined as those rights which are explicitly protected by the Constitution. These rights will have a special status and will be immune from change by political whims through legislation. In order to change them, a Constitutional Amendment will be required.

The Bill of Rights (First 10 amendments) is perhaps the best example of entrenched rights in the United States, as within these 10 amendments, are numerous rights that are given to American Citizens. These include freedom of speech, assembly, religion, legal protections, right to fair trials, protection of discrimination and more.

Changing Entrenched Rights

If anyone wanted to change any of the entrenched rights in the US this must be done through a Constitutional Amendment. Any piece of ordinary legislation would immediately be struck down by the US Supreme Court as unconstitutional.