Civil Liberties

The First Amendment

• Civil Liberties: limits on government that allow people to freely exercise their rights.
• Civil Rights: freedom you have to participate in public life
• Selective Incorporation: states can’t enact laws

The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech

1. Speech
2. Religion
3. the Press
4. Expression
5. Peaceful Assembly

Schench v. the US (1919)

• Established the Clear and Present danger test (which states that speech can be curbed.)
  • Supreme Court established that a person’s rights aren’t absolute
  • Courts show they’re willing to restrict right in the interest of national security

Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969):

• Brandenburg v. Ohio: establishes Imminent Lawless Action Test where speech can be limited if authorities can show it will incite criminal acts.

Tinker v. Des Moines:

• Tinker v. Des Moines: symbolic speech where a school was upset with students for wearing black armbands that protested the Vietnam war.

New York Times v. the US:

• New York Times v. the US: freedom of the press. NYT tried to expose the Pentagon Papers because the government was lying.

Engle v. Vitale

• This case focuses on freedom of religion.
• School prayer case that violated the establishment clause: separation of church and state
• Importance of the ruling:
  • prohibits the reciting of prayer in school
  • Reaffirmed in 2000 to include organized, student-led prayer at public football games.

Lemon v. Kurtzman

• The case focuses on state funding for private religious schools to be used for non-religious purposes.
• Free-Exercise Clause: the government can not interfere with the practice of religion.
• The Lemon test says that a law:
  • must have a secular purpose
  • neither advance nor inhibit religion
  • not excessively entangle the government in religion.

The Second Amendment: Right to Bear Arms and Militias

• Militias=National Guard
• Right to Arms is highly controversial and definitions of the 2nd Amendment vary
• D.C. v. Heller (2002): Is a DC ban on registering handguns and required use of a trigger lock unconstitutional? Yes. No handgun bans.
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010): Does the Heller case apply to states? Yes, it does.

Penumbras & Emanations

Where does the right to privacy come from if it isn’t stated directly in the constitution?

• Justice William O. Douglas explained that the Bill of Rights “have penumbras…that give them life and substance” and other amendments have emanations that point to a right to privacy.
  • 3rd amendment -no quartering implies privacy in homes
  • 1st amendment- implies freedom of thought and choice
  • 9th amendment- implies other rights exist beyond those mentioned in the Constitution.

The Right to Privacy

• Implied by the 9th amendment
• Two areas the SC has ruled on:
  • Abortions
  • Roe v. Wade- SC views abortion as a privacy issue and blocks state laws banning the practice. (sets “pro-life/pro-choice” debate)
  • Planned Parenthood v. Casey: Upholds right to abortion, BUT allows states to consider “viability.” No abortions after 2nd trimester.
• Two Areas the SC has ruled on:
  • Sexual relations amongst consenting adults:
  • Lawrence v. Texas (2003): SC strikes down “sodomy” laws in Texas affecting homosexuals.
  • Griswold v. Connecticut (1965): court strikes down state laws prohibiting the use of birth control, even for married couples

4th through 8th provide Procedural Due Process

• Procedural Due Process: the steps that the government must follow before punishing an offense.
  • At first, it only applied to the Federal Government
  • The 1960s required by States

The 4th Amendment

• Provides protection against speculative and arbitrary police actions
• Whren v. United States (1996): Person pulled over on a traffic stop is found to have drugs. The court found the search legal as it was in the course of a proper stop.
• Probable Cause: exists when an officer has pulled you over for a violation and/or evidence is in plain sight.

Exclusionary Rule

• Exclusionary Rule: excludes evidence gathered illegally and any “fruit of the poisonous tree”
• More exceptions to getting evidence in

Mapp v. Ohio (1996)

• SC declared that all evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures in violation of the 4th amendment is inadmissible in court.

5th Amendment: Self-Incrimination

• Self-incrimination: when you implicate yourself in a crime, usually during interrogation

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

• The 5th amendment requires that law enforcement advise suspects of their right to remain silent and to obtain an attorney during interrogations while in police custody.

6th Amendment: Right to Legal Counsel

• Powell v. Alabama (1932): SC says the trials denied due process. Defendants were not given reasonable time and opportunity to secure counsel in their defense.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): SC believes that all (felony) defendants have a right to an attorney even if they can not afford one.

The 14th Amendment: Equal Protection

• Equal-Protection Clause: States can’t deny any person equal protection under the law.
  • The court uses 3 categories for determining if a law violates the 14th amendment.
  • Suspect Categories: any law involving race, ethnicity, or religion
  • Strict Scrutiny: government much show a strong reason for targeting them
  • Quasi-Suspect Categories: any law involving sex-based categories
  • Intermediate Scrutiny: government must show a compelling interest in the law
  • Nonsuspect Categories: Any law based on age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical handicap much show a rational connection to a legitimate government purpose.

The Clash Over Slavery

• Abolition: the 19th-century movement to end slavery
• Missouri Compromise: limited slavery to southern lands west of the Mississippi River
• Dredd Schott vs. Sandford: SC decision that stated blacks could not be citizens

The Reconstruction Amendments

• Reconstruction: failed attempt to rebuild the South and establish racial equality after the Civil War
• 13th: ends slavery
• 14th: grants citizenship and equal protection under the law
• 15th: grants voting rights to black males
• Black Codes: laws restricting the rights of blacks
• Jim Crow Laws: created a system of segregation in the South that would last until 1965
• Plessy v. Ferguson: SC case that legalized the concept of “separate but equal” and Jum Crowism
• de jure discrimination: discrimination established by law…like Jim Crow laws
• de facto discrimination: a subtle form of discrimination that exists without a legal basis
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954): marked the beginning of the end of the “Separate but equal” era that started with Plessy v. Ferguson

The Civil Rights Movement

• A Social Movement: organizations to fight for civil rights and desegregation.
• Nonviolent protests: protests mean to state what’s wanted to be said without violence (sit-ins, marches, “rides”)

Equal Access- The Civil Rights Acts of 1964

• Regardless of sex, religion, race, or ethnicity, states/federal governments must provide equal access to:
  • Public Establishments
  • Hiring and Jobs
  • Housing
  • Some Exceptions do exist:
  • Small businesses/apartments
  • Parochial Schools in hiring

Equal Ballots- The Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Voting is essential to citizenship, yet denied to so many for so long
• Unconstitutional Voting practices:
  • Grandfather Clause (1915)
  • Literacy Tests and Poll Taxes
  • All White Primaries (1944)
• The 24th Amendment: Outlaws poll taxes (for voting)
• Voting Rights Act (1965): Prohibited Literacy Tests
  • States that had restrictive laws would have to have “pre-clearance” from the federal government to change their voting laws. Struck down with Selby County v. Holder.

Striving for Equality of Results

• Affirmative Action (Employment): Programs designed to ensure groups have full and equal opportunities
  • Ensures applicants are treated fairly
  • White Males not overly preferred
  • Can be applied in a limited and sensible manner, used for diversity
• Mandatory Busing: used to diversify and end segregation

Gender Equality

• Laws of coverture: laws that stated a woman’s political rights and duties operated through her husband
  • The women’s suffrage movement started at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
  • Passage of the 19th Amendment happens in 1920
  • The CRA of 1964 bars discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, and national origin
• Recent issues: sexual harassment, equal pay for equal work, and reproductive rights.

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