Political Science Final - Tuesday 7:45am

How has the Media Changed and How Does it Shape Politics? 

I. Introduction

A. Government and Media: two-way relationship:

• Government dependent on media to get its message out

• Media dependent on government for stories, information, source

B. There has never been a “free market” in our media

• Government policies shape every aspect of our media

II. Brief History

A. Early History: Thousands of newspapers in U.S., papers are owned by private individuals.families

• Newspapers are partisan: openly favor one political party or group

B. Middle 19th Century: newspapers begin to lose partisan labels 

C. Early 20th Century

• Consolidation of newspaper ownership begins 

• Total number of newspapers declining 

• Professionalism of jouralism: “objectivity” 

• Radio: Initially dominated by entertainment programming 

• WWII: radio becomes major news source; FDR

D. Middle 20th Century

• Television: Initially also documented by entertainment 

• 1960: TV becomes major news source (Nixon-Kennedy debates)

E. Late 20th Century

• Internet: Late 1980s

*Origins: 1960s research by U.S. Defense Department 

F. Social Media: Early 21st Century - Facebook, Twitter

**Major news sources: Not legally treated like media companies

III. Effects of the Internet and Social Media

A. Easy Access to all kinds of information

B. Much easier for strange, false, etc: ideas to become mainstream

**Fake news: Intentionally false stories made by anyone (not news organizations) for profit, political purpose 

**Also: Ads that deliberately contain false information 

C. Effects on Us: 

• Broadening our horizons or narrowing?

• People’s attention spans?

D. Effects on politics

• No longer one headline per day

• Public attention is fragmented

**Not a common set of facts 

III. Influence of the Media

A. Objectivity: This becomes the standard when journalism becomes a professon (early 20th century)

• What is objective reporting?

B. Research: Most people consume media that they already agree with (talk radio, Internet, cable news, etc.)

• Thus, much of the media tends to reinforce ideological beliefs rather than change them.

C. Major News Outlets Today

• The relationship between much of the media and White House has traditionally adversarial

• Trump: The media is the “enemy of the people”

• This further erodes trust in the media

• 1st amendment: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom…of the press…”

• Framers understood free media as a key check on government in a democracy

• World history: freedom of the press is the first thing to go under authoritarian regimes

IV. Government Regulation of Media

A. Before 1934

• 1st amendment: freedom of the press—to prevent government licensing of newspapers

• Radio: no system of licensing exists

• Stations often broadcast on the same frequency in the same city

B. Introduction of licensing

• 1934 Communications Act: created the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)  

• The licensing of radio is introduced 

**Rationale for licensing: frequencies are a scarce resource. Broadcasters need to meet public interest requirements in exchange for a license (broadcasters can make large profits) 

• Licensing expanded to television broadcasters 

**Radio and television broadcasters pay no fee for licenses

• Cell phone companies do pay fees for the use of frequencies 

C. 1996 Telecommunications Act: 

• Deregulates many aspects of media ownership 

• Continues the consolidation of media ownership that began many years ago

D. Net Neutrality

• Default rule for the Internet since the beginning: all websites travel at the same speed regardless of the ISP 

• FCC adopted this policy under Obama

• BUT: Cable and Phone companies are pushing to undo the policy

V. Conclusion: Policy Issues

A. Corporate Ownership: Small # of huge corporations own nearly all our major media

• Fewer voices and viewpoints

• Less diversity in ownership and programming

• Less coverage of local issues that matter to communities

• Less independent and critical journalism is necessary in a democracy

• Pundits pontificating instead of actual news

• More celebrity news (cheap, non-controversial)

• Less investigative journalism (expensive, can be controversial)

Political Participation

I. Introduction

A. Voting Foundation of democracy

• We elect representatives at every level of government

• Elected officials appoint other officials to run the government

B. Expansion of Voting Rights

1. Removing barriers allowing previously excluded groups to vote

2. Increasing the number of elections (School Boards, etc.) and the introduction of direct primaries

C. Non-voting

• Recent Pres. Elections Turnout: 50-65% of eligible voters

• Other years, the percentage is less, sometimes much less

**Is this a problem?

D. Voting Regulation is decentralized

• Federal law is minimal, involving only discrimination 

• State laws: registration rules, appearance of ballot, etc. 

• Local officials implement elections 

II. Expansion of Voting Rights in US History

A. Wealth and Property

• Early history: Large majority cannot vote

• All colonies/states property requirements for white males

**None allowed women, Native Americans, free blacks to vote

**By 1852, all states had abolished property requirements for white males (universal white male suffrage)

B. Gender

• Women’s Suffrage movement: Seneca Falls, NY in 1848

• Late 19th and early 20th Century: Other nations adopt women’s suffrage

• By 1910: women in five western states (WY, UT, ID, CO, WA)

**1920: 19th amendment: Women can vote in all states

C. African Americans

• 1858: Free blacks (males) could vote in only 4 northern states (NH, ME, MA, VT)

• 1870: 15th Amendment: prevents states from discriminating in voting on the basis of race (black males)

• 1890-1920: South adopts laws to prevent blacks from voting

**1965: Voting Rights Act: Makes discrimination in voting illegal

• Justice Department given power to enforce voting rights 

III. Other Major Changes in Voting Rights

A. Direct Primaries: Early 20th Century - Voters select the parties’ candidates

• Some states also adopt caucuses

**Eventually: All states have primaries and caucuses

B. Direct Election of Senators

• 1913: 17th amendment: direct election of Senators (Constitution: state legislatures chose the Senate)

C. 18 Year Old Voting Age

• 1971: 26th amendment: Voting age is 18 in all states (previously, states had different ages, ranging from 18-21)

**Vietnam War

IV. Demographic Influences on Voting Behavior

A. Income Wealth

• Income wealth goes up - more likely one is to vote

• Highest income wealth groups - more likely to vote Republican

B. Education

• More formal education - much more likely to vote

C. Gender

• Women slightly more likely to vote than men

**Gender Gap: Women more likely to vote Democratic than men (especially in Presidential elections)

D. Race

• Whites: more likely to vote than racial minorities

• Whites: also more likely to vote Republican than minorities

• African Americans: Overwhelmingly behind Democrats

• Latinos (Largest minority group today): favor Democrats

• Native Americans: favor Democrats

• Asian Americans: Diverse group: favor Democrats

E. Age:

• Likelihood one will vote increases with age

• Younger votes lean toward Democrats

• Older voters are somewhat more Republican

F. Religion: 

• 25% of electorate: Evangelical Christian - overwhelmingly Republican

• Catholic voters split

• Jewish voters (very small %) lean heavily toward Democrats

• Non-religious voters: split 

V. Other Influences on Voting Behavior

A. Ideology and Party Identification

• Conservatives - Republicans

• Liberals/progressives - Democrats

• Many voters do not have strong ideological beliefs

• One-third say they’re independents

B. Perceptions of Candidates

• Canditates still matter a lot

C. Salience of Issues

**Agenda setting and Framing are so important

• What issues do people think are important?

• How do people think about issues, eg. the economy?

• Some people - Consistently single-issue voters

D. Retrospective Voting

• Voters assess current conditions

• Reward or blame incumbent and incumbent’s party

• Economy, war and peace, etc.

• BUT: Big issues (economy) are not objective

• More common in Presidential elections

I. Introduction - Political Parties

A. Political Party: Political organization that attempts to shape public policy through electing indivdiuals into office

B. Some facts:

• Parties NOT mentioned in the Constitutionl NOT created by government

• Parties mostly regulate themselves, except in terms of elections

• Two major parties now

• BUT: many important third parties in U.S. history

II. Two Party System

A. Reasons for the Two Party System

1. Tradition and History

• Two major sides to major national issues: Constitution, Civil War, New Deal

2. American belief system

• Public tends to think that a 2 party system is the norm; 

• Americans not very ideological, therefore gravitate toward 2 major parties 

3. Electoral System

• Winner-take-all plurality system (Most votes = winner)

• No reward for coming in second

**This is very different from a Proportional Representation system

4. State laws

• Ballot access: difficult for third parties to even get on the ballot in many states

B. Republicans and Democrats: Differences Between and Within

• Major differences on social issues for decades

• Parties drifting apart: Enviornment, Immigration, Economy, Trade

• Other issues: Foreign policy?

• Trump’s Repulican Party is logical extension of Regan - Free Markets, hostility toward government and unions

• Divisons within Democrats also: liberals v. moderates

C. Other Parties

• Green, Libertarian - Both have elected officials at the local level in many state

• WI and MN: several influential third parties, including Reform party (Ventura)

III. Parties and Elections

A. Realigning Elections

• Rare

• Caused by major changes in society, which lead to new party coalitions

• New party becomes dominant after the election 

Eg.

• 1860: Civil War: Republicans win and become dominant 

• 1932: Great Depression, Democrats win and become dominant 

B: Theories of Party Control of government

1. Responsible Party Theory

• Parties take clear positions on all issues, voters decide, winning party enacts its policie

**This is how Parliamentary systems are supposed to work

2. Electoral Competition Theory

• Parties move toward the middle to try to get a majority 

• Therefore parties’ policy positions are more similar

**Recent U.S. elections are similar to the responsible party theory 

BUT: We don’t have a parliamentary system: We have a separation of powers, and branches of government elected separately 

**Our system was built on the assumption of some cooperation between parties because of the likelihood of divided government

IV. Conclusion

A. Negative Partisanship: Opposition to other party more than support of one’s own party

-Straight-Ticket Voting: becoming much more common recently

B. Future of Democracy

• Rule of Law, civil liberties, free press, free speech, equal rights

• What do Republicans and Democrats stand for?

**We don’t need democracy to have some version of capitalism

Introduction: Interest Groups and Lobbying in American Government

A. Interest Group: Any organized group that tries to influence government

• 1st Amendment: we have a right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Examples of Major groups: Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club, National Rifle Association (NRA), American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)

B. James Madison warned about “factions”

**Madison - structure of the government, along with the large size of the country, would prevent any one faction from becoming too powerful

C. Some Numbers

• Today: Over 13,000 registered lobbyists representing thousands of groups

• 1980: about 7,000 lobbyists

**However: Thousands of other people lobby government without being registered lobbyists

D. Why so many?

1. Separation of Powers/Federalism: thousands of “points of access” (lots of government to lobby)

2. Increasing Diversity of the Population

3. Effectiveness of Groups

4. Decline of Political Parties

II. What Interest Groups Do

A. Lobbying

1. Insider Method (traditional lobbying) direct contact with government officials:

• Testifying at hearings, meetings, reports/data to government etc.

**This is highly regulated

2. Outsider Method (grassroots lobbying): trying to mobilize public opinion, mainly thorugh advertizing

• Get the public to contact their legislators on a specific issue

• Very expensive, but can be very effective

**Advertise on behalf/against candidates - Largely unregulated

B. Contributing to Campaigns

• Political Action Committees (PACs) to raise money and contribute to political campaigns

C. Lobbying Federal Agencies and Courts

• Groups lobby agencies extensively

• Less visible than lobbying Congress, but also regulated

• Lobbying courts, writing briefs, and filing litigation

D. Protest

• Groups organize protests and demonstrations

• Impact public opinion - policy

III. Types of Groups

A. Economic Groups

• Lobby on behalf of issues that are mainly economic

• Examples: business groups, labor unions, banks, etc. 

**This type of group is the most common

B. Single-Issue Groups

• Lobby for one main issue

• Example: NBA, National Organization for Women (NOW)

C. Public Interest Groups

• Lobby on behalf of issues that would benefit the entire public 

• Example: consumer groups

D. Professional Groups 

• Represent the professions

• Examples: groups working on behalf of those in poverty

IV. Interest Group Influence: Money is Power

A. Pluralism

• Theory that our political system is essentially made up of groups

• Origins in James Madison

• Many groups = no one group has too much power

• Balance in the system

• System is Open: Any of us is free to join or form groups

B. Is pluralism accurate?

• Yes and no

• many groups, but some are very powerful

• Many of us can join groups, but how many of us can form groups/lobby?

C. Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Comission (2010)

• Previous law: Corporations, unions, etc. cannot spend money on advertising or behalf of candidates 30 days before a primary or 60 days before general election

• Citizens United struck these rules down

**Any individual or organization can spend any amount of money on behalf of or against candidates at any time

**This occurs through Super PACs (Political Action Committees) that work independently of candidates but actively support particular candidates

D. Interest Group Liberalism: More Accurate than Pluralism

• Theory: government officials often support the demands of organized groups that have a stake in the policy

• Both parties do this 

E. But - Business groups are by far the most powerful

• Top Spending PACs Business interests 

• Almost all top spenders in lobbying are business interests

**Business/wealthy constantly seeking to set the political agenda and frame issues 

**Business is much more powerful than labor or citizen groups 

I. Introduction - Congress

A. Basics

1. House of Representatives: 2-year terms; 435 members; based on population; but every state has at least one

2. Senate: 6 year terms; 100 members - every state has two

B. Reapportionment

• House of Representatives: 435 seats are reapportioned after every Census (every ten years)

• States in South and West have gained Reps, in recent decades

• States in North, parts of Midwest have lost Reps

C. Salary

$174,000 for rank and file members (Leaders make more than this)

II. Committee System

A. Standing Committees: 21 in Senate; 16 in House

*Examples: Agriculture, Armed Services, Budget

• Permanent, mainly involved in lawmaking and oversight

• Each standing committee divides into several subcommittees

B. Select/Special Committees

• Temporary, created by both the House and Senate

• Investigate, make recommendations

• Often these deal with ethical/legal problems (January 6th, Watergate, etc.)

C. Joint Committees

• Temporary; include members of both houses

• Address an issue, and make recommendations

• No legislative

D. Conference Committees

• Temporary, created as needed; common

• Purpose to reconcile two different versions of the same bill

**Situation: Senate and House pass slightly different versions of the same bill, conference committee is formal

• Constitution: Bill has to pass both houses in the same form before it can go to President

• Sometimes, differences are too great and no compromise is reached

I. Introduction - The Presidency

A. Founding Period

• Fear of governmental power

• Creation of a limited Presidency

• Many checks and balances

• President - More power in foreign policy

B. Constitution: 9 specific powers

• Commander-in-Chief of Armed Services

• Request opinions of executive officers

• Grants pardons and reprieves for offenses against the U.S., except impeachment

• Make treaties, with advice and consent of 2/3 of Senate

• Appoint judges, ambassadors, etc., with advice and consent of Senate

• Give information in Congress on State of the Union

• On extraordinary occasions, convene a special session of Congress

• Receive ambassadors and other public ministers

• “Take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”

C. Separation of Powers

**Shared powers in separate branches of government

• Legislation: President and Congress

• Appointments: President and Senate

• Treaties: President and Senate

• War Powers: President and Congress

II. Early U.S. History: Presidential Restraint

A. Theory of Presidential Restraint: guided presidential behavior throughout the 19th Century

• The President’s power comes only from the Constitution and federal laws

• Without authorization from the Constitution or federal law, the President cannot act

**Very limited view of Presidential power

In practice, this meant that:

• Presidents did not sponsor a policy agenda

• Presidents did not make public appeals

• Presidents did not veto legislation for political reasons, but only for Constitutional reasons

• Presidents generally did not believe they could use military force unilaterally unless defending the country

B. Exceptions to Presidential Restraint

1. Thomas Jefferson (1800-1808): Louisiana Purchase in 1802

2. Andrew Jackson(1828-1836): Used veto for political reasons - vetoed legislation chartering a national bank even after the Supreme Court said it was Constitutional

3. Abraham Lincoln (1860-1865): took several steps during the Civil War

**Other 19th C. Presidents practiced restraint

III. Development of the Activist Presidency

A. Late 19th and Early 20th Century: Changing Role of Government

• Progressive and Populist Movements

• National and state governments become more active

B. Specific Presidents Who Expand the Office

1. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909): first President to use office as “Bully Pulpit”: Speak out on major issues, try to shape public opinion

2. Woodrow Wilson (1912-1920): First President to lobby the public on a specific policy - League of Nations after WWI

**League of Nations did not pass Senate

3. FDR (1932-1946): Progressive (Democrat)

• Great Depression - FDR’s New Deal: a series of new policies and programs designed to address economic collapse

• Governemnt - Active in many different areas (banking, social welfaire, agriculture, etc.)

**Social Security Act (1935): Social Security program

**National Labor Relations Act (1935)> Right to join form labor unions

4. Lyndon Johnson (1963-1968): Progressive (Democrat)

• Continues precedent set by New Deal

• Many new social welfare and civil rights policies

• Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Civil Rights Act (1964, 1968, Voting Rights Act (1965)

5. Ronald Reagan (1980-1988): conservative (Republican)

• Major tax cuts, large increases in military spending, and reductions in domestic spending

*Free markets: Trickle-down economics: Get government out of the way 

C. Activist Presidencies - Clear philosophies about the role of government, advocated policies consistent with these philosophies 

IV. Conclusion

A. The Presidency, Democracy, and Political Norms

Maintaining basic norms, rule of law, respect for institutions

**Democracy = Loyalty to Consituton, laws, NOT loyalty to indivdual leaders

I. Introduction - The Executive Branch

A. Background

American Political Culture since Founding

• Mistrust/dislike of Government

• Strong belief in free market economy

• These beliefs have fluctuated throughout history

• BUT: General belief - more positive toward market, more negative toward government

• Many other democratic nations - More positive view of government and skepticism toward free market

B. Executive Branch

• All the agencies of government

C. Functions

1. Enforce the laws passed by Congress

2. Make Rules (Regulations): in order to enforce the law

3. Adjudicating: some agencies have this function (National Labor Relations Board)

D. Components:

1. Departments: 15 in total, most recent is DHS (2002)

• Largest units in federal government

• Headed by Cabinet Secretary, appointed by Senate

• Secretaries can be removed by President at any time

**DOGE isn’t a Department

2. Independent Agencies

• Outside of departments

• Headed by someone appointed by Pres/Senate

• CIA, NASA, etc.

3. Regulatory Agencies

• Regulate some technical issue (economy, environment, etc.)

• Headed by commissioners who are appointed by President, serve fixed, staggered terms

• Commissioners must be balcned in terms of political parties (3-2)

• FCC, SEC, Federal REserve Board, Etc.)

4. Government Corporations

• Set up like a private corporation

• Examples: Amtrak, Post Office, FDIC

II. Government Employment

A. Patronage (Spoils System): Government jobs given to supporters of the winning political party

• Roughly from early 19th century to early 20th century

B. Criticisms of the Spoils System: (Progressive Movement)

• Incompetent employees

• High turnover

• Corruption

C. Pendleton Act (1883): Beginning at the End of Spoils System

**President Garfield - Assassinated in 1881 by someone who didn’t get a job

• Pendleton Act: Made 10% of the federal workforce covered by a civil service merit system

D. Civil Service: Rationale and Specifics

• Government employees should have neutral competence

• Political Party should not matter in carrying out government services

• Less turnover, better employees

• Employees have job security - could not easily be fired

• General Schedule (GS): Adopted to standardize federal employment qualifications and salaries

• By 1950s and 60s: large majority of state and local employees are in state civil service systems

II. Conclusion - Executive Branch

A. Some Numbers

**10% of all U.S. workers in a labor union 1954: 34%

**32% of government workers in a labor union

**6.6% of private sector workers in a labor union

B. Government Employment Today

• Since 1960s: unions have increased their role in federal, state, and local governments (AFSKCME., etc.)

• Many states (including WI: Act 10 struck down by court, will be heard by WI Supreme Court at some point

C. Job Security:

• Source: Civil Service Laws and union contracts

• Public sector workers have more job security, typically

• How do we evaluate that?

Introduction - Supreme Court

A. Constitution: Article III - federal judiciary and Supreme Court

• Justices: Appointed by President/Senate for life

B. Supreme Court and Democracy?

• Unelected Justices with lifetime appointments

• BUT: Democracy = majority rule and invdividual rights

C. 9 Justices: Not in Constitiution

• Congress set the number at 9 in 1869

• Big part of our political culture

D. Structure of Federal Judicial System

1. Supreme Court

Appeals Courts: 12 Circuit Courts

Trial Courts: 94 District Courts

II. The Workings of the Court

A. Appointment Process

• All Presidents have considered how Justices would vote

• Justices usually have judicial experience

• President also appoints Chief Justice - Can be a sitting Justice, or from outside the Court

B. Power of Court: Deciding What Cases to Hear

• About 8,000 cases come before the SC each year

**But the Court only hears about 80-100 cases each year

• Informal Rule of 4: at least 4 Justices must vote to hear a case

• If lower courts disagree, or if public pressure on the Court - Court more likely to hear the case

• If Court refuses to hear a case, decision of the highest court stands

C. Writing Opinions

• Opinions: legal justifications for arriving at a specific decision

• Majority Opinion = Opinion of the Court

• Minority Opinion = Dissenting Opinion

D. Precedent

• The Court’s earlier decisions are always important

E. Interest Groups and the Court

1. Lobbying for/against appointments (advertising, public relations)

2. Bringing test cases, class action lawsuits

3. Filing briefs in cases, legal arguments in support of one side

III. The Supreme Court as a Policy Maker

A. Statutory Interpretation: defining what a particular statute (law) means in practice

• Whether an agency’s actions are authorized by the law

• Eg: EPA and clean air regulations

B. Judicial Review

• Determining whether a law is constitutional 

• Not given explicitly to SC in the Constitution

• Asserted by Ch. Justice Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803)  

**Why do we need judicial review?

I. Much of the Constitution is straightforward: 

• President - 35 years old; Terms of Senators 6 years; 2/3 of Congress to override the President’s veto, etc. 

2. But other parts of the Constitution are open to interpretation: 

1st am: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” 

14th am: “Nor shall any state deprive to any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to anyone within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

C. How do Justices Interpret the Constitution

• Text: What does the document say?

• Intentions of the Framers: Can be difficult, however

• American Political Tradition, structure and functions of democratic government

IV. Important Cases

A. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Ruling was 9-0

• Segregated schoolers were “inherently unconstitiutional”, violating 14th amendment equal protection clause

• Overruled Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and “separate but equal” doctrine

• Brown II (1995): schools should be desegregated “with all deliberate speed.”

• However, very little desegregation took place in the years after Brown

**1965 Education Act: School funding tied to districts’ showing progress toward desegregation

• This leads to much more desegregation

**Brown v Board of Education reveals the limits of the Court’s power

B. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

• Interpretation of the 5th amendment right against self-incrimination

**5th amendment no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…”

SC ruled:

“The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he has the right to remain silent, and that anything he says will be used against him in the court of law; he must be clearly informed that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the laywer with him during interrogation, and that, if he isn’t indigent, a laywer wil lbe appointeed to represent him.”

**Effects: police must notify suspects of their Miranda rights once taken into custody

• Some exceptions to this, but the ruling still stands as law

C. Roe v. Wade (1973)

• 7-2 decision; written by Harry Blackman

• Established right to privacy, and concluded that abortion during the first trimeseter falls under a woman’s right to privacy

• SC had mentioned right to privacy in cases before Roe

**The right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”

D. Debbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization (2022)

• Mississippi had a 15-week abortion ban (with some exceptions)

• SC struck down Roe and upheld the Mississippi law

• Alito: “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”

• No more federal rights to abortion; abortion is now decided by elected officials (states and potentially Congress/President)

• Privacy rights?

I. Introduction - Civil Liberties

A. Civil Liberties: Individual freedoms protected from governmental interference

**Bill of Rights (Speech, religion, press, etc.) and elsewhere in Constitution

Eg: Habeas Corpus: Art. 1 Sec. 9 (concept dates from Magna Carta)

B. Purpose of civil liberties: Some freedoms are not subject to majority rule, thus cannot be taken away by government

C. Early History: Civil liberties defined very narrowly

• Barron v. Baltimore (1833): SC miles that the Bill of Rights applies only to the federal government

D. Incorporation: In several cases in 20th Century, the SC ruled that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights also apply to state (local) governments (most of Bill of Rights has been incorporated)

II. Freedom of Speech

A. General Principles

• Rationale: reaction against licensing requirement for publications that existed in England

**Political speech has always been given special protected by the SC

• Governement cannot regulate speech because of its content; thus laws have to be “content neutral”

*Content neutrality - The government cannot regulate speech because of its content. It can’t pick and choose between hate speeches and what’s permissible or legal and what’s not

• Prior restraints on speech are assumed to be unconstitutional (when government attempts to prevent some type of speech before it occurs)

B. Time, Manner, and Place Restrictions

• Government can regulate the time, manner, and place of speech, provided regulations are content neutral, serve a significant governmental interest, and leave open adequate alternative places for expression

**Public safety, maintenance of traffic, etc., are significant public interests

C. Offensive speech, hate speech, etc. is generally protected

• Eg. Flag burning, cross burning

III. Unprotected Speech: Can be Regulated by Government

A. Obscenity: first ruled as not a protected category in Roth v. US (1957);

Miller v. California (1973): attempted to define what consitututes obscenity

**Community standards

B. Incitement to Riot: Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969):

• “Imminent lawless action”

C. Libel: NY Times v. Sullivan (1964)

**Actual Malice Standard: very difficult to prove

IV. Freedom of Religion

A. Two clauses: Free exercise clause and establishment clause

**“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

B. Establishment Clause

**Debate since Founding: Separationists (Madison, Jefferson) v. Accomodationists

Historically: SC held that government cannot endorse religious beliefs

Free Exercise Clause

• Distinction between belief and action

• Governemt in no instances can regulate belif, but if can regulate actions

**Generally: strict scrutiny applied: any infringement on free. exercise must serve a compelling governmental interest

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022): high school football coach’s post-game prayers that midfield were protected by the First Amendment’s free speechand free exercise of religion clauses

• Court called coach’s prayers “personal”

• Public high school; on field; after game; with players

V. Conclusion

A. Democracy = majority rule, but also preservation of minority rights

• Civil liberties are a critical part of what democracy means in

I. Introduction - Civil Rights

A. Civl Rights: Right of every person to equal protection of the laws and equal access to society’s opportunities and public facilities

B. Race and Gender: African Americans, women, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans - all have achieved legal equality with white males

**This has not led to economic equality, however

C. Individuals with Disabilities: Americans With Disabilities Act (1990)

• Ensured equal opportunities in employment, public services (state/local governments), public accommodations (stores, restaurants, etc.), transportation, and telecommunications

D. Sexual orientation

• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples

II. Civl Rights Movement

A. Early Period

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “separate but equal” doctrine

• This gives legal authority to create a segregated society

B. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• SC rules segregated schools inherently unconstitutional

• Little desegregation occurs immediately, but major victory for the civil rights movement

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955): In 1956, SC declared segregated buses unconstitutional

C. Election of 1960: JFK wins narrowly over Nixon

• JFK won several southern states, but was also supported by African Americans

• Pressure on JFK from both the South and the Civil Rights groups

**Kennedy moves very slowly on civil rights

D. Lyndon Johnson

• Personally committed to civil rights (grew up in segregated times)

• Passed several major civil rights laws during his Presidency

• First suggests affirmative action

1. Civil Rights Act of 1964:

• Makes discrimination in public facilities illegal, and makes discrimination in employment illegal

2. Voting Rights Act of 1965:

• Makes discrimination in voting illegal (poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests, etc.), the federal government will enforce voting rights

• Major impact within a few years: # of Black voters throughout much of the South increases dramatically, # of Black elected officials then also increases

3. Civil Rights Act of 1968:

• Prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and gender was added in 1974

III. Conclusion

A. Effects of Civil Rights Laws

• Voting Rights Act is easiest to assess - very successful

• 1964 and 1968 Civil Rights Acts: longer term, success not immediate

B. Economic Effects (1964 Civil Rights Act)

• In many ways, the economic situation for racial minorities has improved since 1964 (more members of the middle class, more professionals, etc).

**But significant differences remain according to race

C. Housing (1968 Civil Rights Act): Anti-Discrimination in Housing

• The U.S. is still largely segregated in terms of neighborhoods (worse in the North than the South)

• Many types of housing discrimination are difficult to enforce

• Economic differences, according to race, also contribute to residential segregation

**There has been progress: suburbs and smaller towns are becoming more diverse

D. Pluralism and Racial/Ethnic Progress

• 1960s: pluralism - African Americans, Hispanics, other minorities would move up economically over time, just like Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans, and other White ethnic groups

**However, Racial differences have proven to be more difficult to overcome than ethnic differences