Unit 3 - Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

The Bill of Rights

  • Bill of Rights is specifically designed to protect individual liberties and rights

    • civil liberties protect citizens from abuse of government power

    • civil rights are protections from other ppl (discrimination, etc.)

  • first 10 amendments

First Amendment: Freedom of Religion

  • establishment clause

  • free exercise clause

First Amendment: Freedom of Speech

  • Supreme Court has held that speech, including symbolic speech, is protected by the first amendment

  • interpretations of the amendment:

    • time, place, and manner regulations that impose restrictions such as limits on the time of day an event can be held, limits on noise levels

    • limitations of some obscene and offensive communication

    • protections against defamation (language that harms the reputation of another)

      • includes libel - written - and slander - oral

    • restrictions on speech that create a clear and present danger

First Amendment: Freedom of Press

  • supreme court affirms support for a heavy presumption against prior restraint even in cases involving national security

Amendments: Balancing Individual Freedom with Public Order and Safety

  • Court decisions defining cruel and unusual punishment involve interpretation of 8th amendment and its application to the death penalty

  • debate of 2nd and 4th amendment involve concerns over public safety and if the government regulation of firearms interferes with public safety and rights

Selective Incorporation

  • imposed limitations on state regulation of civil liberties by extending select protections of the Bill of Rights to the states through the due process cause of the 14th amendment

Amendments: Due Process and the Rights of the Accused

  • 5th and 14th amendments include clauses that state that the government may not infringe on a person’s right to life, liberty, or property without due process of the law

    • 5th amendment - applies to national government

    • 14th - applies to states

  • due process requires that government officials use methods that are not arbitrary when making and carrying out decisions affecting constitutionally protected rights

    • reinforced by bill of rights and Miranda rule

  • Miranda rights - not absolute

    • public safety exception has been sanctioned that allows unwarned interrogation to stand as direct evidence in court

  • procedural rights of the accused and the prohibition of unreasonable searches are intended to ensure individual liberties are not overshadowed by the need for social order. it includes:

    • right to legal counsel, speedy and public trial, impartial jury

    • protection against warrantless searches of cell phone data under 4th amendment

    • limitations on bulk collection of tele communication metadata

      • patriot and USA freedom acts

  • procedural due process protects rights of accused during a trial

    • bill of rights guarantees right to an attorney and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures

    • exclusionary rule - evidence illegally seized by law enforcement officers in violation of the 4th amendment cannot be used against that suspect in criminal prosecution

Amendments: Due Process and the Right to Privacy

  • supreme court recognized constitutionally protected rights not explicitly listed int he Bill

    • right to privacy

  • Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

    • supreme court interpreted the due process clause to protect the right of privacy from government infringement

  • Roe v. Wade (1973)

    • supreme court held that the application fo due process extended to the privacy right to abortion

  • Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)

    • overturned Roe v. Wade

    • constitution does not confer a right to abortion, leaving decisions about the regulation of abortion to legislatures

Social Movements and Equal Protection

  • Civil rights protect individuals from discrimination based on characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and sex

    • guaranteed to all people under the due process and equal protection clauses

Government Responses to Social Movements

  • responded through court rulings and/or policies

    • supreme court decisions which declared that race-based school segregation violates the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause

    • Civil rights act of 1964 - prohibits discrimination in public places, provides for the integration of schoos and other public facilities + makes employment discrimination illegal

    • Title IX of Education Amendments Act of 1972 - prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance

    • Voting rights act of 1965 - prohibits racial discrimination in voting

Balancing Minority and Majority Rights

  • Decisions demonstrating that minority rights have been restricted at time and protected at other times:

    • State laws and Supreme Court holdings based on the separate but equal doctrine restricting African American access to sone restraints, hotels, schools, etc. as the majority white population

    • Court decisions decelerating that race-based school segregation violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause

    • the supreme court upholding the rights of the minority in cases that limit and prohibit majority-minority districting

Affirmative Action

  • affirmative action: the policies intended to address workplace and educational disparities related to race, ethnic origin, gender, disability, and age

    • supreme court debate has focused on if affirmative action is protected by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment