Commentary: States had despotic powers before federal courts intervened

Very few Americans realize this important fact: Almost all the individual rights and liberties enjoyed in this country today were created by the federal judiciary. At the time of the Constitution’s ratification, a few rights mentioned in Article I Section 10 were guaranteed to U.S. citizens.The adoption of the Bill of Rights in December 1791 did not create any new individual rights because it limited only the national government. This was made crystal clear in Barron versus Baltimore (1833