Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Government Civil

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Government

Civil Liberties Protections, or safeguards, that citizens enjoy against the abusive power of the government

Bill of Rights • First 10 amendments to Constitution • Applies only to the federal government

Selective Incorporation • Process of making the Bill of Rights work at the state level • The Supreme Court has applied the Bill of Rights to the states using court cases before the court

Bill of Rights

1 st Amendment Guarantees 5 freedoms Speech Press Religion Petition Assembly

1 st: Types of Speech • Pure Speech • Speech only • Speech-Plus • Words + Actions • Symbolic speech • Representations of ideas without words • Sit ins, armbands, flag burning, etc. • Unconstitutional when the mode of expression (not the ideas) are considered harmful.

1 st: Types of Speech • SELECTIVE INCORPORATION • Tinker v. Des Moines • Wearing black arm bands for protest is legal under freedom of (symbolic) speech • Texas v. Johnson • flag burning is protected under freedom of speech. (symbolic)

1 st: Speech & Press • Unprotected speech includes 1. Obscenity 2. Defamatory speech 3. Pornography 4. Fighting words (incite violence) 5. Seditious speech (treason)

1 st: Speech Defamation – not protected by the 1 stsaying or printing things that could hurt a person’s reputation • Libel • Written statement that defames the character of another person • Slander • Oral (spoken) statement that defames the character of another person

1 st: Exceptions to Freedom on Speech & Press • Clear and Present Danger Test • Prohibited speech only when it would result in imminent harmful consequences • Prior Restraint • censorship before publication (gag orders) • Shield Laws • None at federal level, up to states • Would protect reporters from revealing their source

1 st: Exceptions to Freedom on Speech & Press • SELECTIVE INCORPORATION • Schenck v. U. S. • encouraged people to avoid the draft and handed out anti-war leaflets…since in war, posed a threat to safety and therefore not allowed) • Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier • principal stopped a story before printed in the school newspaper

1 st: Religion Establishment Clause “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ” Forbids Congress from establishing a national religion • SELECTIVE INCORPORATION • Engel v. Vitale • No school prayer • Wallace v. Jafree • No moment of silence for prayer • Lemon v. Kurtzman • Rules for using tax money on private (religious) schools

1 st: Religion Free Exercise Clause Guarantees the right to practice a religion of their choice Conscientious Objector Person who refuses to perform military service because of opposition to war based on religious beliefs

1 st: Assembly & Petition • Must be lawful and nonviolent • It is usually the onlookers, not the protestors that cause the problems • The state can protect from assembly on private property • Extremist groups can't be punished if their words are not expressly linked to action

2 nd Amendment – Right to Bear Arms

Rights of the Accused

Rights of the Accused: Prohibited Powers: Unconstitutional • Bill of Attainder • Declares a person guilty w/o a trial • Ex post facto law • Makes an act criminal when it was committed legally (illegal after the fact) • Suspension of writ of habeas corpus • Arresting and imprisoning w/o cause

4 th Amendment: Prohibits Unreasonable Search & Seizure • Warrant required • Must have probable cause • Must describe place & person/things to be seized SELECTIVE INCORPORATION: • Mapp v. Ohio • Arrested Mapp for having obscene materials in home but warrant was looking for another suspect and his bomb-making materials. • Miranda v. Arizona • suspect testified without lawyer, claimed he did not know he had the right to remain silent. • Miranda Rights • Must read a suspect their rights • Exclusionary Rule • Evidence illegally obtained can be excluded in court proceedings.

5 th Amendment: Rights when Accused • Right to a grand jury • Indictment guarantees enough evidence to go to trial • Federal grand jury = 16 -23 jurors and you need 12 votes for indictment • Double jeopardy • Can’t be tried for the same offense of law twice • Self incrimination • Can’t be forced to serve as witness against self • Miranda Rights • Miranda v. Arizona • Due process • Fair Procedures for all • Eminent domain • Private property can’t be taken w/o just cause

6 th Amendment: Rights when On Trial • • • Right to a speedy and public trial Right to a petit jury trial (12 members) Right to be informed of charges Right to confront witnesses Right to counsel • Gideon v. Wainwright (Florida man denied lawyer because he couldn’t afford one and the charges were state charges…challenged from jail and won)

7 th & 8 th Amendments 7 th Jury Trial in Civil Cases Right to a trial jury for cases involving more than $20 8 th Bail, Punishment No excessive bail, no cruel & unusual punishment Death Penalty is Legal if administered equally: Two Stage Trial: Stage 1: Decide Guilt Stage 2: Decided Punishment

9 th Amendment: Right to Privacy Provides the basis for civil liberties not specifically mentioned in the Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause No state can deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law • Substantive – substance of the law guarantees due process • Procedural – actions of those involved guarantee due process (police, lawyers, judges)

Civil Rights q Obligations that government has to protect citizens from discrimination and to guarantee equal citizenship q positive acts of government that seek to make constitutional guarantees a reality for all people

Racial Discrimination Dred Scott v. Sanford • Set the precedent that slaves were property The Civil War Amendments • 13 th – Freed Slaves • 14 th – granted citizenship to all natural born Americans (former slaves included) • 15 th – Right to vote

Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause No state may deny any person equal protection of the law Discrimination Categories • • • Race Gender Age Disability Sexual Orientation

Segregation Separation of People • De Jure • By law • De Facto • By differences • Income, housing patterns, educational opportunities, socioeconomic status

Racial Discrimination Jim Crow Laws State and local laws enacted in the South that required the separation of African-Americans and whites in public facilities and placed legal restrictions on blacks to prevent them from voting. Examples: Grandfather clause Poll taxes Literacy Tests White Primaries Separate schools, hotels, buses, trains

Racial Discrimination Segregation Cases • Plessy v. Ferguson • allowed segregation through the separate but equal doctrine • Tried to fight segregation on train cars. Supreme Court said if facilities were equal, it was acceptable to separate by race. • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka • overturned Plessy; integration of public schools “with all deliberate speed”

Civil Rights Movement • Led by Martin Luther King, NAACP & Thurgood Marshall • Introduced Civil Disobedience • Breaking the law to get it changed • Rosa Parks at the front of the bus • Sit ins at White Lunch Counters

Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Stopped public segregation, job discrimination • Extended to all racial, religious, gender and ethnic minorities • Now applied to disabled, elderly, homosexuals

Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Ensured minority right to vote • Worked to end poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, etc…

Affirmative Action • Aimed at increasing representation of women and minorities • Used in college admission and job hiring • Ranges from recruiting efforts to the use of quotas • Reverse Discrimination • Discrimination against a MAJORITY group • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Women’s Suffrage Movement • Led by Susan B. Anthony – organized Women’s Rights Convention in 1848 • 19 th Amendment – Right to vote - 1920 • Comparable Worth – equal pay for equal work - 1963 • Equal Rights Amendment – guarantee for equality (states said already in 14 th) q Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.