US Chapter 4: Civil Liberties

In following the Eighth Amendment, the Supreme Court has used which of the following tests to determine if an action constitutes cruel and unusual punishment

- Determining whether a punishment is "disproportionate to the offense" - Determining if a punishment is "unnecessarily cruel" - Determining if a punishment violates "fundamental standards of good conscience fairness"

Free speech is usually protected in the United States unless it

- Involves false commercial advertising claims - Leads to imminent and lawless action - Presents a clear and present danger

Why was the NSA's wiretapping of phone calls and emails originating in the US, first revealed by the New York Times in 2005, controversial?

- The wiretapping had been authorized by President George W. Bush without approval from the courts. - The wiretapping was specifically prohibited by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

The Bill of Rights protects some civil liberties, including freedom

- of Assembly -of Speech - of the Press

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

5th Amendment self-incrimination clause that protects the Miranda Rights (including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney)

Free Exercise Clause

A First Amendment provision that says Americans can hold any religious beliefs they want - also interpreted as Americans cannot always act on their religious beliefs if they conflict with other laws

The importance of listing individual rights in the Constitution is that it gives individuals who feel that their rights have been violated...

A basis for taking the alleged violation into a court of law for a ruling by a judge

imminent lawless action test

A legal test that says for speech to be restricted: - it must be directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action - Has two criteria for speech advocating the unlawful use of force to be prohibited - Says that speech must be likely to produce lawless action

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Abortion rights fall within the privacy implied in the 14th amendment

good faith exception

Admission of illegally obtained evidence if it was obtained by police who thought they were following proper procedure

Korematsu v. US (1944)

Allowed government policies during wartime that would not be allowed during peacetime

Johnson v. Texas (1989)

Burning the American flag is protected specifically under symbolic speech by the 1st Amendment

Civil Liberties

Constitutional guaranteed that protect citizens' individual rights

To obtain a search warrant from a judge, police must

Establish probably cause for believing a crime has been committed

United States v. Leon

Established the "good faith" exception to the exclusionary rule

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Extended the Exclusionary Rule to the states, increasing the protections for defendants

which of the following amendments contribute to ensuring criminal due process?

Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth

Hamilton v. Regents, U of California

Freedom of religion

Near v. Minnesota (1931)

Freedom of the press

Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

Hate Speech is protected if it doesn't incite an imminent lawless action

Snyder v. Phelps (2011)

Held that hateful speech is still protected under the First Amendment, even if it is at the funerals of soldiers killed in action

Patriot Act (2001)

Law responding to 9/11 attacks, allows the FBI and other intelligence agencies to access personal information and records without consent from targeted individuals. ex. Expands anti-terrorist powers (wiretapping, surveillance)

AKA Pentagon Papers Case

New York Times Co. v. United States

SCOTUS has generally held that those convicted in state courts and who appeal on the grounds that their federal constitutional rights were violated are limited to

One Appeal

In 2016, SCOTUS ruled that police could use an ______ __________ for another offense as an excuse to apprehend a suspect for another unrelated offense

Outstanding Warrant

selective incorporation

Process by which the Supreme Court has selectively made certain parts of the Bill of Rights applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment to actions by state governments

civil rights

Rights granted to groups of citizens, such as equality under the law

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

Ruled the 2nd Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for lawful, private use

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

SCOTUS ruled that restrictions on abortion are legal as long as they don't place an undue burden on a woman's right to obtain an abortion.

Hamden v. Rumsfeld (2006)

Secret military tribunals are unconstitutional since they failed to provide detainees even minimal protection of rights

right to legal counsel

Sixth Amendment

Lemon Test (Lemon v. Kurtzman)

Test to decide whether the government is improperly involved with religion. - Has a secular purpose. - Its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion. - It does not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.

The Supreme Court decision in Schenck v. United States established which principal?

That the federal government can restrict free expression but that it does not have unlimited authority to do so.

What are the religious clauses in the First Amendment?

The Establishment Clause The Free- Exercise Clause

Today, most of the guarantees in the Bill of Rights are protected from action by which of the following?

The Federal and State Governments

Due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

The idea that the state must use procedures under the law before depriving someone of life, liberty, or property and was created after the civil war

right to privacy

The right to a private personal life free from the intrusion of government.

In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) SCOTUS ruled that the state funding of salaries for teacher at private schools, even if they taught secular subjects violated the Establishment Clause because:

The teachers could use classroom time to teach religious subjects

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

an implied Right to Privacy

Under the 5th amendment, suspects

charged with a federal crime cannot be tried unless indicted by a grand jury

DeJonge v. Oregon (1937)

freedom of assembly

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

freedom of speech and Bill of Rights does apply to states

No prior restraint

government generally cannot stop the news media from reporting a story

exclusionary rule

illegally gathered evidence may not be introduced in a criminal trial

Civil Liberties

individual freedoms guaranteed to the people primarily by the Bill of Rights

Sedition Act of 1798

made it a crime to publish stories that were harshly critical of the government/president

Neither libel or slander is

protected by the First Amendment

Plain View Exception

states that evidence is admissible when it is immediately visible in the course of stopping a person for another infraction (Whren v. United States, 1996)

clear and present danger test

test to determine whether speech is protected or unprotected, based on its capacity to present a "clear and present danger" to society

The second amendment protects

the right of the people to keep and bear arms

Which of the following statements are true concerning the right of assembly?

- Individuals cannot hold an assembly at a busy intersection during rush hour - Public officials can regulate the time and place of assemblies -Regulations of public assemblies must be applied fairly to all groups

inevitable discovery clause

- Nix v. Williams (1984) - the police can use evidence if it would inevitably have been discovered - allows admission of tainted evidence in certain cases

Establishment Clause

- Restricts the government from supporting religion over no religion - Restricts the government from favoring one religion over another

True statements on libel and slander

- Public officials can usually be criticized freely without fear the writer or speaker will have to pay for damages due to libel or slander. - Laws on libel and slander are based on assumption that society has an interest in encouraging media and citizens to express themselves freely

The Second Amendment protects

- Right to keep and bear arms - A well regulated militia

Since the 1950s, what has been the government's approach to free speech?

- The Supreme Court has ruled that spoken words do not pose a true threat to national security, so Americans can speak their minds politically - Not a single individual has been convicted solely for criticizing the government's war policies - The Supreme Court has ruled that national security must truly be at risk before the government can limit speech

racial profiling

- The assumption that certain groups of people are more likely to commit particular crimes Law enforcement officials sometimes controversially rely on the practice of this

Incarceration Rates in the US

- The number of federal and state prisoners has more than doubled since 1990 - The US has the largest prison population in the world on a per capita basis - Most state legislatures have enacted stiffer criminal penalties in the past 2 decades