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
- Speech
- Religion
- the Press
- Expression
- 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.
\