<P> The Sixth Amendment (1791) provides several protections and rights to an individual accused of a crime . The accused has the right to a fair and speedy trial by a local and impartial jury . Likewise, a person has the right to a public trial . This right protects defendants from secret proceedings that might encourage abuse of the justice system, and serves to keep the public informed . This amendment also guarantees a right to legal counsel if accused of a crime, guarantees that the accused may require witnesses to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the accused, and guarantees the accused a right to know the charges against them . In 1966, the Supreme Court ruled that, with the Fifth Amendment, this amendment requires what has become known as the Miranda warning . </P> <P> The Seventh Amendment (1791) extends the right to a jury trial to federal civil cases, and inhibits courts from overturning a jury's findings of fact . Although the Seventh Amendment itself says that it is limited to "suits at common law", meaning cases that triggered the right to a jury under English law, the amendment has been found to apply in lawsuits that are similar to the old common law cases . For example, the right to a jury trial applies to cases brought under federal statutes that prohibit race or gender discrimination in housing or employment . Importantly, this amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial only in federal court, not in state court . </P> <P> The Eighth Amendment (1791) protects people from having bail or fines set at an amount so high that it would be impossible for all but the richest defendants to pay and also protects people from being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment . Although this phrase originally was intended to outlaw certain gruesome methods of punishment, it has been broadened over the years to protect against punishments that are grossly disproportionate to or too harsh for the particular crime . This provision has also been used to challenge prison conditions such as extremely unsanitary cells, overcrowding, insufficient medical care and deliberate failure by officials to protect inmates from one another . </P> <P> The Ninth Amendment (1791) declares that individuals have other fundamental rights, in addition to those stated in the Constitution . During the Constitutional ratification debates Anti-Federalists argued that a Bill of Rights should be added . The Federalists opposed it on grounds that a list would necessarily be incomplete but would be taken as explicit and exhaustive, thus enlarging the power of the federal government by implication . The Anti-Federalists persisted, and several state ratification conventions refused to ratify the Constitution without a more specific list of protections, so the First Congress added what became the Ninth Amendment as a compromise . Because the rights protected by the Ninth Amendment are not specified, they are referred to as "unenumerated". The Supreme Court has found that unenumerated rights include such important rights as the right to travel, the right to vote, the right to privacy, and the right to make important decisions about one's health care or body . </P>

The united states contitution is the oldest written constitution still in effect