CH 4 Essay Question Responses

2. The First Amendment includes two clauses relating to the freedom of religion. (a) Select one of the following cases and identify the First Amendment clause upon which the United States Supreme Court based its decision. • Engel v. Vitale (school prayer) • Lemon v. Kurtzman (state funding for private religious schools)

• Engel v. Vitale (school prayer): In the case of Engel v. Vitale, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer in public schools, even if voluntary, was unconstitutional. Specifically, the court found that such prayer violated the First Amendment prohibition of a state establishment of religion. • Lemon v. Kurtzman (state funding for private religious schools): Establishment Clause The three-part test enunciated in Lemon v. Kurtzman is used to assess whether a law violates the Establishment Clause. The "Establishment Clause" was intended to prevent any governmental endorsement or support of religion

1. Initially, the United States Constitution did little to protect citizens from actions of the states. In the twentieth century, the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution to protect the rights of citizens from state governments in a process referred to as incorporation. (b) For two of the following, explain how each has been incorporated. Each of your explanations must be based on a specific and relevant Supreme Court decision. • Rights of criminal defendants • First Amendment • Privacy rights

• Rights of criminal defendants: Escobedo v Illinois: Criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment. • First Amendment: NAACP v Alabama: Supreme Court protected the right to assemble peaceably in his case when it decided that an organization did no have to reveal its membership list and thus subject its members to harassment • Privacy rights: Griswald v Connecticut: The Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy (state cannot ban contraceptives)

(1) The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...." Under what circumstances has the Supreme Court decided that it is constitutional to abridge freedom of speech and press. Give examples of specific cases to illustrate your answers.

Schenck v US: danger Upheld conviction of Socialist distributing leaflets urging men to resist draft; government can restrict speech if it poses danger to the government (but when is it dangerous vs. inconvenient) Roth v US: obscenity Obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press

2. The First Amendment includes two clauses relating to the freedom of religion. • Engel v. Vitale (school prayer) • Lemon v. Kurtzman (state funding for private religious schools) (b) Describe the Supreme Court's decision in the case that you selected in (a).

Engel v Vitale: Supreme Court determined that state officials violated the 1st Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York schoolchildren Lemon v Kurtzman: Aid to church-related schools must: 1. Have a secular legislative purpose 2. Have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion 3. Not foster an excessive government "entanglement" with religion

(2) Describe the various ways in which the Constitution protects the rights of the accused through the stages of the criminal justice system. Give examples of how these protections have been challenged in the courts.

Miranda v Arizona Decision that sets guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right to counsel Escobedo v Illinois Criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment. Gideon v Wainwright Decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer.

(e) Many of these decisions have caused controversy in the United States. Describe two ways in which other political institutions (branches of government) might limit the impact of Supreme Court decisions.

President can grant a pardon to a federal offender Congress can impeach and then remove judges to sway decisions Congress can propose amendment(s) to the constitution to overrule a judicial decision

2. The First Amendment includes two clauses relating to the freedom of religion. • Reynolds v. United States (polygamy) • Oregon v. Smith (drug use in religious ceremonies) (d) Describe the Supreme Court's decision in the case that you selected in (c).

Reynold v US Mormons' right to practice of polygyny, but the principle is that people are free to believe but not necessarily to act on those beliefs in all instances. Oregon v Smith a United States Supreme Court case that held that the state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual. Although states have the power to accommodate otherwise illegal acts performed in pursuit of religious beliefs, they are not required to do so

2. The First Amendment includes two clauses relating to the freedom of religion. (c) Select one of the following cases and identify the First Amendment clause upon which the Supreme Court based its decision. • Reynolds v. United States (polygamy) • Oregon v. Smith (drug use in religious ceremonies)

Reynolds v US Free to believe, not necessarily free to practice belief Oregon v Smith We have never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the state is free to regulate. On the contrary, the record of more than a century of our free exercise jurisprudence contradicts that proposition.

(3) One of the greatest debates concerning Americans' civil liberties lies in the area of privacy rights. How does the right to privacy relate to the issues of abortion and the right to die? Explain how the courts have dealt with these issues.

Roe v Wade Decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester Planned Parenthood v Casey

1. Initially, the United States Constitution did little to protect citizens from actions of the states. In the twentieth century, the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution to protect the rights of citizens from state governments in a process referred to as incorporation. (a) Define selective incorporation.

Selective incorporation is a constitutional doctrine that ensures states cannot enact laws that take away the constitutional rights of American citizens that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Selective incorporation is not a law, but has been established over time through court cases and rulings by the United States Supreme Court. At its heart, selective incorporation is about the ability of the federal government to limit the states' lawmaking powers. Bit by bit: clause or amendments one at a time