Chapter 1 The Political Landscape

1
Civil Liberties
2
Occupy Wall Street Update
3
The Bill of Rights

• First ten amendments to Constitution that
  guarantee specific rights and liberties.

4
The Incorporation Doctrine

• The Bill of Rights was intended to apply to the
  national government...not the states.
• Gitlow v. New York (1925) began a process of
  using the Fourteenth Amendments due process
  clause to require states to guarantee the rights
  stated in the Bill of Rights.

5
The Incorporation Doctrine

• Most but not all guarantees in the Bill of Rights
  have been made applicable to the states.

6
First Amendment Freedom of Religion

• Two clauses
• Establishment Clause
• Free Exercise Clause

7
First Amendment Freedom of Religion
8
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• Congress shall make no law respecting an
  establishment of religion.
• Prevents government from establishing a religion.
• There have been years of debate over the scope of
  the clause.
• Establishment clause does not prohibit government
  from supporting religion in general.

9
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• What the Supreme Court has ruled about school
  prayer

10
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• Public schools cannot compose official prayers
  for students to recite.
• Public schools cannot have a student-led pre-game
  prayer using the schools public-address system.
• Public schools cannot authorize moments of
  silence for meditation and voluntary prayer...but
  can have moments of silence for secular purposes
  (meditate on days activities).

11
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• Governments can give money to parents to allow
  them to send their children to private or
  religious schools.
• Supreme Court now appears willing to support
  programs so long as they provide aid to religious
  and nonreligious schools alike, and the money
  goes to persons who exercise free choice over how
  it is used.

12
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• Should we take under God out of the Pledge of
  Allegiance?
• ABC Video - Church State and Pledge of
  Allegiance
• http//portal.mypearson.com/mypearson-login.jsp?lo
  goutActionrender

5
13
Freedom of Religion - Establishment Clause

• Should we take under God out of the Pledge of
  Allegiance?
• 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Schools do not
  require students to recite the pledge. Under
  God was added to separate the U.S. from the
  communists, not for religious purposes.

14
Freedom of Religion - Free Exercise Clause

• Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free
  exercise thereof
• Protects a persons right to worship or believe
  as he or she wishes.
• Does not mean that individuals can act in any way
  they want. In Reynolds v. United States (1878)
  the Supreme Court ruled that a Mormon could not
  practice polygamy since polygamy is prohibited by
  federal law.

15
Freedom of Religion - Free Exercise Clause

• How does the proposal to build a mosque (or
  Muslim community center) near Ground Zero fit
  into the First Amendment?
• http//www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/july-dec10
  /groundzero_08-10.html

16
Freedom of Speech Press

• Congress shall make no law...abridging the
  freedom of speech.
• Right to free speech is not absolute.
• In Schenck v. U.S. (1919) the Supreme Court said
  Schenck did not have the right to encourage
  draftees to defy the draft during WWI. This
  established the clear and present danger test.
• Modified in 1969 to be direct incitement test
  (imminent lawless action).

17
Free Speech

• ABC Video - Funeral Protesters Push the Limits of
  Free Speech
• http//portal.mypearson.com/mypearson-login.jsp?lo
  goutActionrender

18
Protected Speech Publications

• Court will rarely tolerate prior restraint -
  government cannot curb ideas before they are
  expressed.
• Court also protects symbolic speech.
• Texas v. Johnson (1989) - burning the American
  flag is a form of speech protected under the
  First Amendment.

19
Protected Speech Publications

• Wikileaks
• http//video.pbs.org/video/1552369351/?starttime1
  388000

20
Second Amendment

• A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
  security of a free State, the right of the people
  to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
• Protects the right to bear arms.
• Written to protect state militias.

21
Second Amendment

• D.C. v. Heller (2008) - Second Amendment protects
  a personal right to keep and bear arms for lawful
  purposes.
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010) - Cities and states
  must abide by the Second Amendment.
• Supreme Court still has not elaborated on what
  kind of gun control laws would offend the
  Constitution.

22
Fourth Amendment

• The right of the people to be secure in their
  persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
  unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
  violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
  probable cause...
• Protects against unfair searches and seizures.

23
Fourth Amendment

• Police can search someone if there is reasonable
  suspicion they are committing or about to commit
  a crime.
• With reasonable suspicion...police may search the
  person, things in plain view, and anything the
  person could touch or reach.
• New issues include cars, borders, and drug tests.

24
Fifth Amendment

• No person shall be...compelled in any criminal
  case to be a witness against himself...nor be
  deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
  due process of law.
• Prevents self-incrimination.
• Due process is a principle that the government
  must respect all of the legal rights owed a
  person according to the law.

25
Fifth Amendment

• Miranda v. Arizona (1966) is the landmark case.
• Miranda rights inform suspects of right to
  silence, any statements he/she makes can be used
  against him/her, and right to presence of
  attorney.

26
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
27
Exclusionary Rule

• Derived from Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
• Illegally seized evidence cannot be used at
  trial.
• Established largely in Mapp v. Ohio (1961).
• Growing number of good faith exceptions.

28
Sixth Amendment

• Protects right to counsel and jury trial in
  criminal cases.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) sets precedent for
  counsel.

29
Eighth Amendment

• Protects against cruel and unusual punishment.
• Most common application is the death penalty.
• Minors and mentally retarded are excluded from
  death penalty.
• Growth of innocence projects and DNA evidence are
  causing some to question death penalty.

30
Right to Privacy

• A right to privacy is not explicitly stated in
  the Constitution or Bill of Rights.
• In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) the Supreme
  Court ruled that a right to privacy is implied by
  other constitutional rights guaranteed in the
  First...Third... Fourth...Fifth...and Ninth
  Amendments.

31
Right to Privacy

• Ninth Amendment The enumeration in the
  Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
  construed to deny or disparage others retained by
  the people.
• First Amendment right to practice ones religion
  implies the right to exercise private...personal
  beliefs.
• Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable
  searches and seizures implies that we are to be
  secure in our homes and should not fear that
  police will show up at our doorsteps without
  cause.

32
Right to Privacy

• Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
• Case involved a challenge to the
  constitutionality of an 1879 Connecticut law
  prohibiting the dissemination of information
  about and/or the sale of contraceptives.
• Court ruled the law violated marital privacy.

33
Right to Privacy
34
Right to Privacy extended to Abortion

• Roe v. Wade (1973) - Supreme Court held that the
  right of privacy...is broad enough to encompass
  a womans decision whether or not to terminate
  her pregnancy.
• Roe v. Wade ruled a Texas law unconstitutional
  which allowed abortions only when they were
  necessary to save the life of the mother.

35
Right to Privacy extended to Abortion
36
Civil Liberties and Terrorism

• Virtually all civil liberties have been affected.
• USA Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act.
• Place limitations on free speech rights.
• Increase law enforcements search capabilities.
• Attempt to deny habeas corpus rights to
  defendants.
• Allow for use of techniques such as
  water-boarding.

37
Spying on the Home Front

• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/homefront/
  view/?utm_campaignsearchpageutm_mediumvideosear
  chutm_sourcevideosearch