The categories can overlap in one dispute. Imagine that a city allows one political organization to hold a rally in a public park but denies a permit to another organization because officials dislike its position on racial equality. The excluded group has a civil-liberties claim involving speech and assembly. The rally's subject concerns civil rights, but the subject alone does not determine the constitutional claim. Now change the facts: a state law allows only members of one racial group to vote in a local election. That rule is chiefly an equality and participation problem. The distinction depends on the challenged government action, not on whether the controversy has a politically important theme.

Next identify the actor and the legal source. The Constitution ordinarily restricts federal, state, and local government; it does not automatically govern a private person's conduct. A neighbor's criticism of another person's religion is not a First Amendment violation because the neighbor is not the government. A private employer or restaurant may nevertheless be bound by a federal or state civil-rights statute. Statutes can reach private discrimination in settings where the Fourteenth Amendment's state-action requirement would leave no direct constitutional claim. This is why a complete answer names both the protected interest and the rule that reaches the defendant.

Competing interests make the distinction especially valuable. A civil-rights law securing equal access to hotels may be challenged by an owner asserting a liberty interest. Courts do not resolve that conflict by announcing that "rights" always defeat "liberties" or the reverse. They identify the source and scope of each claim, the actor being regulated, and the applicable constitutional standard. Exam distinction: civil liberties ask what protected freedom government has burdened; civil rights ask whether a person has been denied equal status, opportunity, or participation.

Video lesson: Civil Rights & Liberties: Crash Course Government & Politics #23