Government - Civil Liberties Test Notes

*The first amendment when discussing freedom of religion, creates two clauses, or phrases. What are they?

1) Establishment Clause 2) Free Exercise Clause

The ________ amendment, sometimes called the "reserved rights amendment" invokes what?

9th; invokes rights not mentioned in the constitution.

Civil Rights

Actions taken by the government to protect freedoms and liberties guaranteed in the constitution.

What was the ruling of Lemon v. Kurtzman case?

No, Pennsylvania schools could not give money to private schools because of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. This is what produced the Lemon Test. The court ruled in favor of Lemon.

What is Lemon v. Kurtzman (origin of the "lemon test")

Pennsylvania schools were giving public school money to private schools in the surrounding area. Most of which were Catholic schools. The question was, was this appropriate? Did the violate the Establishment Clause?

Commercial Speech

Speech for Business-related purposes.

The Supreme Court struggles to develop a fine line between Establishment Clause violations, so what do we use to Evaluate this?

The Lemon Test

What did Thomas Jefferson say about the Establishment Clause?

Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase "Wall of Separation" to describe the Establishment Clause, but no one should think that it requires a total divorce between the government and religion. Our pledge of allegiance, coins, and many public traditions include religious references.

As humans, we are born with what?

natural rights; Rights that we possess simply by being human. It is not given, we have certain rights.

What are the three questions asked during the Lemon Test to determine if a law goes against the Establishment Clause?

1) Does the law have a secular purpose? (Does it have a purpose that targets religion and solely religion for religious purposes?) 2) Does the law endorse or limit a religion? (Does a law force people to practice certain things of a religion or do things associated with a certain religion? Does it prevent others from doing that?) 3) Doe she law create an "excessive entanglement" between government and religion? (Does the law put too much interest in mixing government and religion together? Does the law force government and religion to go hand in hand or restrict one another?)

What does it mean when right are relative, not absolute?

A person has the right to do as they please as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, or go against the government.

What is the Lemon Test?

A set of criteria or questions used by the Supreme Court in establishment clause cases to determine if it violates it or not.

Expressive action or conduct

As for expressive conduct, it may be regulated as conduct, but not as expression. Take, for example, flag burning. Flag burning cannot be punished because it conveys disrespect for the country. It can, however, be punished under a general prohibition against burning things.

Morse v. Frederick (Bong hits for Jesus)

At a school-supervised event, Joseph Frederick held up a banner with the message "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," a slang reference to marijuana smoking. The Principal took away the banner and suspended Frederick for ten days. She justified her actions by citing the school's policy against the display of material that promotes the use of illegal drugs. Question: Does the First Amendment allow public schools to stop students from displaying messages that promote the use of illegal drugs at school-supervised events? Ruling: The Court ruled that the school was allowed to stop student speech when it comes to pro-drug messages that may undermine the school's important mission to discourage drug use. Ruled in favor of Morse.

The first Congress fixed a deficiency by proposing amendments that became known as the what?

Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments)

In spite of the Establishment Clause, what religion does the government center in and function in?

Christianity; many religious references and examples are on our coins, "In God we Trust", in our allegiance "One nation under God", etc.

The Supreme Court has also struggled with the concept of Free Exercise. The Court announced a standard for judging the constitutionality of restrictions that conflict with religiously inspired actions in

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah.

What was Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah?

Did the city of Hialeah's ordinance, prohibiting ritual animal sacrifices, violate the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause? This question was asked because as one of their rituals, the Church practiced animal sacrifice, but ate animals after they did. Killing animals was against the law, and the question was knowing this, did the prohibit the free exercise clause, prohibiting religion from their practice? The court ruled in favor of the church. The law must be: 1) neutrally drafted and 2) generally applied. [Basically, neither the language of the law nor its enforcement can target a religious practice for persecution.] If, however, the law appears to fail either of those conditions, the Court will still deem it constitutional if it has been narrowly tailored to accomplish a compelling government interest.

What was the Debs v. United States case?

Eugene V. Debs Gave an anti-war speech in 1918 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating the Sedition Act Appealed to the Supreme Court; The court ruled in favor of the United States. This case was a free speech issue, but it was said that his speech was meant to downgrade and turn people against the American government, which is why he was sentenced.

What was the Texas v. Johnson case?

In 1984, in front of the Dallas City Hall, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag as a means of protest against Reagan administration policies. Johnson was tried and convicted under a Texas law outlawing flag desecration. He was sentenced to one year in jail and assessed a $2,000 fine. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, the case went to the Supreme Court. Legal Question Is the desecration of an American flag, by burning or otherwise, a form of speech that is protected under the First Amendment? Texas vs. Johnson: Decision 5 votes for Johnson, 4 votes against The Court determined that Johnson's burning of a flag was protected expression under the First Amendment Found that Johnson's actions fell into the category of expressive conduct and had a distinctively political nature. The Court found that just because an audience takes offense to certain ideas or expression does not justify a prohibition of speech. They ruled in favor of Johnson.

Civil Liberties

Individual freedoms and protection from government interference and control. These include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to petition, freedom to assemble, the right to bear arms, and freedom of press.

Obscenity

Speech of an extremely offensive or graphic nature. Usually this is curse words.

Sedition

Speech that attempts to overthrow the government or undermine its laws through violent methods

What was the Establishment Clause?

The First Amendment's Establishment Clause prohibits the government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion." This clause not only forbids the government from establishing an official religion, but also prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another. There has to be a separation between church and state.

What is the key difference between democracies and dictatorships?

The extent of the authority. Democratic governments are limited by guarantees of individual freedoms. Dictators pretty much have full power and the people's rights and freedoms can be infringed upon since a dictator is in full power and has way more authority.

Where do our rights as citizens come from?

The government and the Creator.

Tinker v. Des Moines

Three students; John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and Christopher Echardt, decided to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to their school in Des Moines, Iowa. Fearing that the armbands would cause a distraction, the principals of the district said all students wearing armbands would have to take them off or face suspension. Question : Can schools prohibit (not allow) students from wearing armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest under the first amendment? Ruling: - In a 7-2 decision the Court decided that students can wear armbands. This is protected under the First Amendment, freedom of expression. -The principals failed to show that the armbands interfered with the school day. Ruled in favor of Tinker.

The Supreme Court has interpreted the 14th amendment's due process clause for what?

To mean that no state can deny any right that is basic or essential to the Americans concept or ordered liberty.

Libel

a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation. Speech that is false or malicious throughout meant to hurt someone's character.

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

a school-sponsored newspaper of Hazelwood East High School, was written and edited by students. In May 1983, the school principal found two of the articles dealing with teen pregnancy and divorce to be inappropriate for a High School newspaper and the articles were removed. Question : Is the principal allowed to delete these articles? Or does it violate freedom of press under the first amendment? Ruling: The Court ruled that schools must be able to set high standards for student speech. School Administrators have the right to edit a school newspaper. The principal was allowed to do this. Ruled in favor of Hazelwood.

The Freedom of Religion appears in the 1st Amendment, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an.....

establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Meaning, Congress can't make a law praising, helping, or doing anything in favor of a particular religion, and can't make a law that does not allow someone to practice or exercise a religion.

What is the 14th amendment?

granted citizenship to all who were natural born in the us, including African Americans.

The 1st ten amendments to the Constitution were originally intended as restrictions on the...

national government, not state government. This does not mean the states can deny rights to the people.

What is the due process clause?

no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, a court session, or a legal proceeding.

What is the Civil rights amendment?

no state can deny any right that is basic or essential to the Americans concept or ordered liberty.

rights are ____________ not absolute

relative

Each state contains its own bill of _____

rights

We have life liberty and property rights according to Jefferson, and the government's job is to do what with those rights?

secure those rights.

Speech means more than ______ words.

spoken; It also means other methods of communicating ideas: written words, symbols, pictures, expressive conduct, etc.