North Dakota

Civil Liberties

Civil liberties are central not only to our government, as outlined in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution, but to what it means to be an American. Our freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly allow us to think for ourselves, criticize the government, and practice our faiths. We also have the right to due process and protection from unreasonable search and seizure. These rights protect us from unreasonable interference and imposition by our governments and help define what freedom means in the United States.

Summary of Results.

The degree to which our civil liberties are being protected is difficult to measure. For this reason, we include only one measure, focused on freedom of the press. North Dakota’s progress in this area has been improving.

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  • Freedom of the Press
    Specific Measure

    Rate of press freedom violations per 1 million population, including assaults and arrests of reporters, damage to their equipment, and subpoenas/legal orders for anonymous sources and restricting coverage

    (Source: US Press Freedom Tracker).
    State Rank
    State vs. US trend
    45

    Why did we include this measure?

    The press is seen as so important to holding the government accountable and keeping the public informed that it is sometimes called the "fourth estate," placing it on par with other "estates," including the government itself. The specific measure we chose was the only one we could find that consistently and objectively measured press freedom. Other data sources focus on assessments of press freedoms by experts and reporters themselves, but these are more subjective and difficult to interpret than our measure, which focuses on actual, documented events that seem to violate press freedoms.

    View Freedom of the Press Nationwide

    North Dakota State Trend Improving

Measures in green indicate an improving state trend or that this state ranks in the top third of states in the country.

Measures in red indicate a declining state trend or that this state ranks in the bottom third of states in the country.

Measures in yellow indicate stable trends or that this state ranks in the middle third of states in the country.