ABSTRACT
The philosophical argument seeks to show that the constitutional entrenchment of rights is morally required. This chapter seeks to show that the rights which protect people's autonomy should be entrenched in the constitution of a democratic state. The argument for a bill of rights unfolds as follows: first, it is argued that we have autonomy-protecting rights not only against private individuals but also against the state, and the meaning of having such rights against the state is explained. Then it is shown that it is legitimate to turn certain autonomy-protecting moral rights into legal rights, and that doing so in the case of the rights we have against the state amounts to turning them into constitutional rights; and various objections to the argument are countered. Constitutional rights always ground a lack of legal power in citizens and members of the legislature and are therefore always immunity-rights.
