Amendment Poster
6th & 7th
The 6th Amendment
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you. It has been most visibly tested in a series of cases involving terrorism, but much more often figures in cases that involve (for example) jury selection or the protection of witnesses, including victims of sex crimes as well as witnesses in need of protection from retaliation.
What does it mean?
A person accused of crime has the right to be tried in court without delay and by a jury. The defendant must be informed of the charge upon which he or she is to be tried. The defendant also has the right to be represented by an attorney at every stage in the criminal process.
The Sixth Amendment Explained: The Constitution for Dummies Series
The 7th amendment
The 7th Amendment states: 'In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
What does it mean?
The Seventh Amendment, or Amendment VII of the United States Constitution is the section of the Bill of Rights that guarantees a jury trial for civil cases in the federal courts. However, this type of case is usually not heard anymore in the federal court system.
The Seventh Amendment Explained: The Constitution for Dummies Series