Studied by 3 people
Civil liberties
Individual Protections against government actions.
Ex: Free exercise clause - religious practices
Civil Rights
Equal application of Rights regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or religion
Ex: Every defendant gets a lawyer
Equal Due Process
right to fair procedures and processes
Equal Protection Clauses
No discrimination - race, religion, etc
Selective Incorporation / Incorporation Doctrine
On a case-by-case basis the SCOTUS has nationalized the Bill of Rights. Once an amendment has been incorporated/nationalized, a citizen is protected from both the federal and the state governments
Basically, the states have to follow the Bill of Rights.
4th Amendment
Protection against warrantless search and seizure
Probable cause: reasonable basis someone is guilty
Courts must approve the search & seizure
Search Warrant
Exclusionary Rule
Evidence obtained in an illegal search is inadmissible (suppressed, not allowed in use of conviction).
5th Amendment
Self-Incrimination
Miranda v. Arizona
SCOTUS: must make suspect aware of 5th.
Except a Coerced confession doesn’t preclude a conviction if enough other evidence, Suspect must invoke it clearly, Police can go back for seconds, no entrapment.
Eminent Domain
Government has to justify taking of private property for public use AND pay fair market value.
Equal due process rights
Every person gets their rights - can’t be for some and not others.
6th Amendment
It gives citizens a series of rights in criminal trials.
Trial, Jury
Know the charges
Speedy, jury peers & public
8th Amendment
No Cruel or Unusual Punishment
Punishment must fit the crime
5th Amendment
Ensures the protection against self-incrimination
Equal due process under the law
Discrimination can be considered a violation of equal due process because it unjustly treats groups differently, less than
Due process - everyone gets the same rights
14th Amendment
No state may deny equal treatment
Strict Scrutiny
Applied when race, ethnicity is at issue, always unconstitutional. No compelling reason, usually race or ethnicity.
Intermediate Scrutiny
Likely to be found unconstitutional; related to gender.
Affirmative Action
Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment of members of some previously disadvantaged groups.
De facto discrimination
Social, economic, cultural biases — discrimination (ex post facto - just happens, not overtly trying, not thinking).
De jure discrimination
Specific law—discrimination
SCOTUS declared it was the Court’s job to interpret the Constitution. Established the doctrine of judicial review.
14th Amendment
SCOTUS ruled that Congress has the power to create a national bank and that states cannot tax the federal government. Established implied powers; use of elastic clause; state unable to tax fed. Constitution & federal laws are supreme.
10th amendment
Schenck V. U.S. (1919)
Printed and distributed anti-war fliers during WWI. SCOTUS ruled for the clear and present danger test → Restricted speech during wartime.
1st Amendment
Baker v. Carr (1961)
In Tennessee, more people moved to Shelby County. Though the state was supposed to redistrict (redraw district borders for elected officials based on population changes from the decennial census) after the census, they didn't. The state was counting less than the people's votes in a rural county.
SCOTUS ruled that federal courts could hear redistricting cases based on the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Established that all votes should be equal, regardless of where a person lives
14th Amendment - Equal Protection Clause
"one-person, one-vote" principle
Established the precedent of federalizing the Bill of Rights (applying them to the states); states cannot deny freedom of speech - protected through the due process clause of Amendment 14.
Man arrested in FL for petty theft; FL denied his request for a public defender. SCOTUS declared that the states must provide counsel/an attorney to indigent defendants as it is fundamental to a fair trial under the 6th Amendment.
6th Amendment: Trial Rights
14th Amendment
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Tinkers wore peace armbands to school, which got them suspended. SCOTUS ruled that Political speech is a protected form of speech & that Schools may not restrict it unless it materially and substantially disrupts the educational process.
1st Amendment (Speech) - Symbolic Speech
New York Times v. U.S. (1971)
NYT planned to publish the Pentagon papers. Government attempted to stop this under the clear & present danger test. SCOTUS ruled in favor of NYT because the gov did not demonstrate a security risk.
1st Amendment: Speech
Prior restraint: Gov. may preempt publication if the information poses a national security risk.
School segregation is unconstitutional. Overturned separate but equal, use of the 14th Amendment.
Established exclusionary rule; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court.
4th Amendment - protects against unreasonable searches and seizures
The New York Board of Regents allows daily, voluntary prayer. However, SCOTUS ruled that this violated the First Amendment Establishment Clause → The courts also prohibited the recitation of prayer in public schools.
1st Amendment - Establishment Clause: prevents the government from establishing a national religion or favoring one religion over another
Allowed states to provide textbooks and busing to students attending private religious schools. Established a 3-part test to determine if the establishment clause is violated: nonsecular purpose, advances/inhibits religion, excessive entanglement with the government. Known as the Lemon Test.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Amish practitioners stop sending their children to their Amish schools after age 14; instead, they become trade apprentices. WI enforced and applied its mandatory school attendance law to Amish children. SCOTUS rules Free Exercise clause has supremacy (more important) than WI’s interest in all children attending school
1st Amendment (Religon)
SCOTUS ruled that women have the right to choose to have an abortion under the right to privacy.
14th Amendment
Dobbs v. Jackson, 2022 Overturned it, 1973: “Abortion” is not a right explicit in the Constitution.
Alan Bakke sued UC Davis Medical School, claiming they denied him equal protection. SCOTUS ordered Bakke to be admitted and said the quota-based admissions policy was discriminatory → Strict quotas are unconstitutional but states may allow race to be taken into account as a PLUS factor in admissions decisions.
14th Amendment: Equal Protection
Quotas violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Struck down TX state law that banned flag burning, which is a protected form of symbolic speech.
1st Amendment (Speech) - Symbolic Speech
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Shaw & other North Carolina residents filed an action against the state, declaring that the state had created unconstitutional racial gerrymandering (The political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency).
SCOTUS ruled that any legislative redistricting must be strictly scrutinized and that any laws related to racially motivated redistricting must be held to narrow standards and compelling government interests.
14th Amendment
Lopez was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon into his high school. Charged under the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.
SCOTUS ruled that the Gun-Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce because gun possession in schools was not an economic activity that affected interstate commerce.
Limited the federal government's authority under the Commerce Clause
Chicago banned handguns in city limits. SCOTUS ruled that Chicago’s handgun law was too broad and restrictive.
2nd Amendment
Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)
SCOTUS ruled that corporations could continue to run political advertisements and corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in elections cannot be limited because it would limit freedom of speech.
1st Amendment (Speech): The Free Speech Clause
