The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to ’create’ rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

Brennan’s statement reflects a natural-rights/limited-government understanding of the U.S. Bill of Rights: the first ten amendments are framed largely as restraints on federal power (“Congress shall make no law…,” “shall not be infringed,” etc.), implying that the liberties they mention are not governmental gifts but protections for freedoms people already possess. The point also supports a broader constitutional argument often associated with Brennan’s jurisprudence: constitutional rights should be understood as safeguards against state action, not as privileges contingent on legislative grace. In this view, the Bill of Rights is declaratory and protective—its function is to recognize and secure preexisting liberties by placing them beyond ordinary political infringement.