What is the nature of the Bill of Rights and the Seventh Amendment?

Finally, the appellants cite from many court cases expounding on the nature of the Bill of Rights and the Seventh Amendment in particular. All quotes are variations upon the theme that the Bill of Rights was designed to protect individuals. E.g., Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 209, 87 S.Ct. 424, 426, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966) ("The various protections of the Bill of Rights, of course, provide checks ... for the protection of the individual."). These pronouncements were not made in situations where courts were considering the rights of state governments, and we find them unpersuasive. Moreover, as we explain below, an additional ground for our holding is that by protecting the states' right to jury trial here, we are also protecting the rights of their individual citizens.