Harris and Trump have very different opinions on gun rights, the death penalty and other civil liberties issues

As the election approaches, voters are examining the record of the two leading presidential candidates on a variety of issues, including civil liberties – a broad term that describes the constitutionally protected freedoms that protect citizens from excessive government power. These fundamental freedoms are contained in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. For example, the protection of free speech under the First Amendment and the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment define people's ability to criticize the government and own weapons for private use.

Again, as an expert in American politics, I have seen that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have very different records when it comes to these crucial American rights.

Freedom of speech and press in the First Amendment

As California attorney general, Harris found herself in an indirect battle with the First Amendment. For many years, California law required nonprofit organizations registered in California to report names and addresses of donors of amounts exceeding $5,000 in a single year. In 2010, a year before Harris became attorney general, her predecessor began actually enforcing this law, which Harris continued when she took office in 2011. In 2014, several conservative groups sued Harris, saying her office's enforcement of the law violated the First Amendment right to give money anonymously.

Part of Harris' job was to oversee the defense of the law in court, arguing that obtaining donor names does not prohibit disclosure requirements like those in California. The case lasted beyond her tenure as California's top law enforcement official: The U.S. Supreme Court declared parts of the law unconstitutional in 2021, after Harris became vice president.

When he was president, Trump's First Amendment record was more about the media than free speech. He repeatedly declared the press the “enemy of the people.” He has suggested that media outlets that cover coverage he dislikes should lose their broadcast licenses and has pushed to change defamation laws to make it easier for public figures to sue against unfavorable ones Submit reporting.

Second Amendment right to bear arms

Since her tenure as district attorney in San Francisco and as attorney general of California, Harris has advocated for stricter gun control laws. However, she is not about taking guns away from Americans – and recently announced that she is a gun owner herself.

As district attorney in San Francisco, Harris worked with the city's then-mayor Gavin Newsom to develop some of the strictest local gun regulations in the country. In December 2004, Proposition H was placed on the ballot and passed by a majority in November 2005. Proposition H banned possession of a handgun in San Francisco, with few exceptions, and banned the purchase, possession, distribution, and manufacture of all firearms in the city. However, the proposal was rejected by the San Francisco Supreme Court, which said gun ownership should be regulated at the state level.

And in 2008, as the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to hear a key gun control case, Harris led 18 elected prosecutors in urging the justices that a comprehensive right to bear arms could jeopardize local and state firearms laws. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees a person's right to own firearms.

However, the Supreme Court ruling did not stop Harris from continuing to fight for gun regulation. She pushed for additional funding to confiscate guns from thousands of people banned from owning guns under California law. Later as a U.S. Senator from 2017 to 2021, Harris continued to advocate for gun regulation by supporting bills that would have instituted universal background checks and a ban on assault rifles.

During Harris' tenure as vice president, she led the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which seeks to focus the administration's attention on a wide range of measures to reduce gun violence, including restrictions on firearms, improved mental health services and new powers for prosecutors to employ persons who use firearms in the commission of a crime.

Trump's record on firearms, meanwhile, is mixed. As president, he signed a law in 2017 that weakened background check requirements for gun buyers with certain mental illnesses. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, he rejected the fact that many local orders closing businesses to protect public health also included closing gun stores.

But in 2018, he also decided to ban bump stocks – a device attached to a semi-automatic firearm that allows it to fire faster. Its ban was overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2024.

Trump also supported and signed the Fix NICS Act, a bipartisan bill that strengthened reporting to the federal gun background check system by requiring federal agencies to submit semi-annual certification reports to the attorney general on compliance with recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

Eighth Amendment protects against “cruel and unusual punishments”

The Eighth Amendment's protection against “cruel and unusual punishment” has been frequently used by the Supreme Court in evaluating the use of the death penalty.

Harris has always been committed to not seeking the death penalty in criminal cases, pointing to a variety of systemic flaws that result in the death penalty being applied disproportionately based on defendants' race and income. She also noted the cost to taxpayers of housing prisoners on death row. Harris' position was tested just months into her service as district attorney when a police officer was shot in the line of duty in 2004. Harris declined to seek the death penalty for the gunman, who was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

However, as California's attorney general, she defended in court the state's authority to impose the death penalty. But when in March 2024 the state's governor – Newsom – declared a halt to executions and spared all 737 people on California's death row, Harris praised the action.

Trump's record on the death penalty long predates his political career. In 1989, he took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the return of the death penalty in New York. He specifically wanted it applied to the Central Park Five, five young black and Hispanic men who were falsely accused of raping and beating a woman. They pleaded not guilty but served years in prison before being exonerated by DNA evidence and the confession of the actual criminal.

During his term as president, Trump resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, executing 13 people in the final six months of his presidency, the last of which took place just four days before the end of his term.

Overall, analyzing both candidates' records on civil liberties is a good step toward making an informed decision as voters decide who to vote for in the upcoming election.