Chapter 10: Civil liberties

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Chapter 10 Civil liberties
The Conflicts of Understanding Our Freedoms
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• Why did British first colonize the New World?
• What two main factors drove them leave Europe
  behind them?
• Consider the first two colonies

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History of American rights

• Economic Opportunities
• Religious Freedom
• What is the problem with too much freedom or
  rights?
• How does this shape the national discourse on
  rights?
• Government must always consider the common good
  (General Welfare). How does this affect the
  conversation on rights?

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History of American Rights- National debate (not
colonial)

• Constitutional Convention
• George Mason, representative from Virginia,
  proposed the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to the
  Constitution, but was rejected. (He later refused
  to sign the Constitution)
• The debate continued into the ratification
  process.
• In order for the federalists to win over enough
  support, they agreed to the addition of the Bill
  of Rights which was ratified in December, 1791.

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Civil Liberties v. Civil rights

• Civil Liberties basic freedoms to think and act
  that all people have and that are protected
  against government abuse.
• speech, assembly, religion (what right?)
• Civil Rights rights of fair and equal status and
  treatment and the right to participate in
  government.
• Based on gender, race, ethnicity (whose right?)
• Civil rights have not always been guaranteed or
  accessible to all members of society (even
  today).
• Civil rights are an extension of the 14th
  amendment.

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Negative v. positive rights

• negative rights rights that come from the
  governments inability to act. (example free
  speech)
• positive rights rights that come from the
  governments ability to act. (example public
  schools)

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LImits

• When does ones own rights conflict with
  anothers?
• Smoking in public, owning a gun, taxing for a
  government program, freedom of speech
• The role of the courts
• Balance the protection of civil liberties and
  protection of the common good.
• They can strike down laws made by government and
  they can limit individual freedoms.
• Courts can only issue rulings on cases in which
  are brought before them by other parties (private
  parties must challenge laws).

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First Amendment- The cornerstone of democracy

• Congress shall make no law respecting an
  establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
  free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom
  of speech, or of the press or the right to the
  people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
  Government for a redress of grievances.-
  Amendment I
• All other liberties stem from the liberties
  protected within it.
• Democracy is impossible without these specific
  liberties.

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Religious freedom

• One of the principles guided by British
  colonization
• 1) forbids the government from establishing an
  official religion (establishment clause)
• 2) guarantees peoples right to a free exercise
  of their own religion. (free exercise clause)
• selective incorporation- certain protections from
  government are essential to due process thus,
  states cannot deny these protections to the
  people.
• A wall of separation of church and state.
  Thomas Jefferson

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Lemon test- religious freedom and schools

• Lemon v. Kurtzman struck down a law that allowed
  public funding for the teaching of non-religious
  subjects at private schools, including religious
  schools.
• Precedent The Lemon Test- Laws must meet the
  following criteria
• It must have a secular or non-religious purpose
• Its major effects must neither advance nor
  inhibit religion
• It must not encourage excessive government
  entanglement with religion.

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Freedom of speech and press

• In order for a democracy to be successful, the
  people need access to a full range of opinions,
  beliefs, and information.
• Includes public and private speech, symbols,
  and actions.
• Texas v. Johnson- Flag Burning is a
  Constitutional form of expression (Speech cannot
  be prohibited even if society finds it to be
  offensive or disagreeable).
• Tinker v. Des Moines- A Iowa school district
  could not prevent students symbolic speech if
  does not interfere with the schools purpose and
  student speech cannot be restricted at the school
  door.

• To Protest the war in Vietnam, students wore
  black armbands which were promptly banned at
  school.

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Limits on speech

• Clear and Present Danger Test The most
  stringent protection of free speech would not
  protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a
  theatre and causing a panic. ... The question
  in every case is whether the words used are used
  in such circumstances and are of such a nature as
  to create a clear and present danger that they
  will bring about the substantive evils that
  Congress has a right to prevent.- (Schenck v.
  United States-1919)
• Libel spoken defamatory statement
• Slander Defamation in print
• Treason the offense by one to overthrow their
  own government or harm the sovereign.
• Sedition speech or actions that inspire revolt
  against the government.

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• Freedom of Assembly People have the right to
  meet together and express their views peacefully.
• Government can limit time, manner, and place of
  gathering (but the content cannot guide
  restrictions).
• Freedom of Petition (redress of grievances)
  petition- a formal request to one in authority
  about a specific cause.

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Rights of the Accused- Why are these important?

• 4th Amendment No unreasonable searches and
  seizures.
• search warrant a court order allowing law
  enforcement officials to search a person or
  location.
• 5th Amendment
• An indictment a formal charge (accusation) from
  a grand jury. To determine if a trial is
  necessary.
• No double jeopardy If found innocent of a
  specific crime, one cannot be tried again for the
  same crime.

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• Right to remain silent to protect people form
  being forced to testify against themselves.
• Presumed innocent until proven guilty (YOU cant
  be the only evidence)
• Miranda v. Arizona created Miranda rights as a
  safeguard
• Due Process one must not be denied their rights
  due to them by the law of the land until
  following the legal process.
• Eminent Domain Private land for Public use
• 6th Amendment Trial by jury
• Entitled to a lawyer if you cant afford one,
  the government must provide you with one.
• 8th Amendment Forbids cruel and unusual
  punishment.
• Bail a sum of money used as a security deposit.
  Bail is returned upon appearance in court. No
  excessive bail.
• Capital Punishment is constitutional (Supreme
  Court).

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Additional Rights

• 2nd Amendment A well regulated militia, being
  necessary to the security of a free state, the
  right of the people to bear arms, shall not be
  infringed.
• Regulation is allowed.
• 3rd Amendment No quartering in times of peace.
• 7th Amendment The right to a jury trial in
  civil cases of the amount 20.
• civil case lawsuits that involve disagreements
  between citizens, and not between the citizens
  and their government (crime). (criminal law v.
  civil law)
• 9th Amendment Makes it clear that citizens have
  rights that are not mentioned in the Bill of
  Rights.
• 10th Amendment The powers not delegated to the
  United States federal government by the
  Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
  are reserved to the States respectively, or the
  people.

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Expanding the Constitution

• 13th Amendment Abolished slavery.
• 14th Amendment Granted citizenship to all those
  born or naturalized in the United States, and
  equal protection under the law.
• 17th Amendment Provided for the elections of
  U.S. senators by popular vote instead of state
  legislatures.
• 18th Amendment Prohibition- the outlawing of
  sale and manufacturing of alcohol in the United
  States. (repealed by the 21st Amendment)
• 19th Amendment women received the right to vote.
• 26th Amendment the right to 18 year olds to vote.

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14th amendment-

• All persons born or naturalized in the United
  States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
  are citizens of the United States and of the
  State wherein they reside. No state shall make
  or enforce any law which shall abridge the
  privileges or immunities of citizens of the
  United States, nor shall any State deprive any
  person of life, liberty, or property, without due
  process of law nor deny to any person within its
  jurisdiction equal protection of the laws.
• Defines citizenship
• Requires that government follow certain
  procedures before punishing a person.
• Equal Protection Clause laws must applied equally