Chapter Twenty: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights

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Chapter TwentyCivil LibertiesProtecting
Individual Rights

• Section One
• Due Process of Law

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What is Due Process?

• Constitution has two clauses
• 5th Amendment
• Federal Government cannot deny anyone life,
  liberty, or property without the due process of
  law
• 14th Amendment
• Same restriction is placed on the States and
  local governments

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But what is it?

• It cannot be defined completely and exactly
• Meaning is found on a case by case basis
• Supreme Court refuses to give a clear definition
• Fundamentally, means this
• The government must act fairly and in accord with
  established rules.

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Two Types of Due Process

• Substantive Due Process
• Involves the what of governmental action
• What the substance, the policies
• Procedural Due Process
• Involves the how of governmental action
• How the procedure, the methods

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The Police Power

• The authority of each State to act to protect and
  promote the public health, safety, morals, and
  general welfare
• It is the power of each State to safeguard the
  well-being of its citizens
• Often produces conflicts with civil rights
  protections
• Courts often come down on the side of the police
  power

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The Right of Privacy

• Due process creates a right to privacy
• Right of privacy the right to be free, except
  in very limited circumstances, from unwanted
  governmental intrusions into ones privacy
• Most notable case Roe v. Wade, 1973