Constitutional law attorneys handle cases involving the construction and interpretation of federal and state constitutions, including individual rights and governmental powers. Constitutional law cases can involve issues like First Amendment rights -- such as freedom of speech, press, and religion -- and the checks and balances on authority among different branches of government. Most of the federal constitutional rights are found in the Bill of Rights, that was created originally as a limitation on the action by the federal government, but many of those rights are also applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles (82 kilometers) south of Boston, 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, and an estimated 2008 population of 91,365, making it the seventh-largest city in Massachusetts. New Bedford is nicknamed "The Whaling City" because it was, during the nineteenth century, one of the most important whaling ports in the world. The city, along with Fall River and Taunton, is one of three cities on the south coast of Massachusetts.