Unit 3 - Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties

• protections from the abuse of the govt power

Civil Rights

• protection from discrimination based on race, gender, or other minority status

• common for African American struggle

Selective Incorporation

• ap

1st Amendment

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of the Press

Freedom of Assembly and Association

• peaceful not violent

• cannot disrupt day-to-day life

• freedom of association: govt cannot restrict the number or type of groups or organizations people belong to as long as national security not threatened

Freedom of Religion

• free exercise: govt cannot prevent individuals from practicing their faiths; few exceptions

• the establishment clause: prevents govt from est state religion

• Lemon test: test to determine if the est clause is violated

2nd Amerndment

• right to bear arms

• question of “well-regulated militia”

• states make sub laws of this tho

3rd Amendment

• no quartering of troops at all during times of peace and only by law during war

• three is a party

4th Amendment

• protect individual’s “person, house, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures”

• probable cause: the search is likely to find evidence of illegality

• search warrant: issued by judge to search and seize

• exclusionary rule: evidence found by police who disregard this procedure may not be admitted as evidence in trial

• objective good faith exception: allows for convictions in cases in which a search was not technically legal but was conducted under the assumption that it was legal

• inevitable discovery rule: illegally seized evidence that would have eventually been found legally is allowed in court

• immediately after arrest, consent, plain view, and probable cause allow searches and seizures

  • exigent circumstances: reason to belive that someone may be harmed or evidence could disappear

5th Amendment

• protect from broad powers of fed govt; grand jury, prohibit double jeopardy, eminent domain laws, may not deprevie and individual of “life, liberty, or property by any level unless due process of law is applied,” rights granted to the accused

Protection from Self-Incrimination

• Constitution protects; defendant cannot be forced to testify, jury cannot infer guilt, right to remain silent, right to a lawyer

6th Amendment

• habeas corpus: protects against unlawful imprisonment and ensures that a person cannot be held indefinitely without being formally charged before a judge or in a court, or without a legal reason to extend their detention

• lawyer must be provided

• the right to a speedy trial

7th Amendment

• trial by jury in common-law cases

8th Amendment

• “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”

  • bail can be denied though

• cruel and unusual punishment clause = death penalty debate

9th Amendment

• “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” AKA rights not in the Constitution are still protected

  • privacy and others

Right to Privacy

• implied right to privacy: 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 14 = privacy

Civil Rights

• Civil War

• 13th Amendment

• 14th Amendment

• 15th Amendment

• Civil Rights Act of 1875

• Jim Crow laws and voting restrictions

  • poll taxes, grandfather clauses

• Equal Pay Act of 1963

• 24th Amendment

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Civil Rights Act, Title VIII

• Civil Rights Act of 1991

de facto Segregation

• segregation by living location, like neighborhoods feeding into schools

Affirmative Action

• seek to create special opportunities for minorities

  • reverse discrimination argument

Women’s Rights

• 19th Amendment

• Equal Pay Act of 1963

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Title IX, Higher Education Act

• Restoration Act of 1988

• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Failed Equal Rights Amendment

• argued that women do not yet have a full guarantee of equality under the law from the federal government