Civil Liberties Ch.4 Unit 1 AP Gov

Right to a speedy and public trial

protects a defendant from having a long delay between being arrested and facing trail, protected under the 6th amendment

Fundamental rights

rights and immunities protected by the Bill of Rights and interpreted by the same preen court as "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty," and therefore protected against state governments in addition to the federal government

Defamation

the act of damaging someone's reputation by making false statements; defamation through a printed medium is called libel, while spoken defamation is called slander

Libel

the act of damaging someone's reputation by printing false statements; although ordinary citizens can sue for libel based on false statements alone, public persons or officials must also prove that the false statements were made with malicious intent

Right to legal counsel

the right to have the assistance of a lawyer, protected under the Sixth Amendment

Free Exercise clause

the second clause of the First Amendment, which prevents the federal government from interfering with its citizens' religious beliefs and practices; the Supreme Court has upheld some limits on religious practices that conflict with secular laws, such as religious drug use or polygamy

"penumbra" of privacy

the supreme court ruled that several amendments in the Bill of Rights case a "penumbra" (shadow) of the right to privacy,

Hate Speech

written or spoken communication that belittles a group based on its characteristics, such as race, gender, or sexual orientation

The Court's interpretation of the Eighth Amendment: In recent years, the Supreme Court has seen an increase in cases involving the death penalty, hinging on the question of whether certain uses of capital punishment violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The Court's interpretation of cruel and unusual punishment has changed over time; in some recent cases, it has prevented states from issuing the death penalty to defendants who are minors or are legally judged to be mentally incompetent. Balancing public safety and the right to bear arms: The debate over gun control and gun ownership is a topic of much controversy in the U.S. today. On one side, some argue that the government should do more to protect public safety and prevent gun violence by passing legislation to limit access to certain weapons and issuing mandatory wait periods. On the other side, others argue that the government should not be allowed to infringe on a person's right to own a gun. While different levels of government have sought to increase gun control legislation to protect public safety, the Court has recently ruled in support of the Second Amendment protection of an individual's right to own guns, striking down gun control legislation in D.C. v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010).

Balancing public safety and individual protections from unreasonable search and seizure: Since 9/11, the National Security Agency (NSA), along with the FBI and CIA, have increased their efforts to prevent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. The NSA is responsible for conducting surveillance to protect national security; one way that they decided to do that is by creating a database of digital metadata from major phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth. This practice came to light in 2013 when former CIA employee Edward Snowden released classified information to the world showing that the NSA had been monitoring the phone calls of leaders of allied nations. Snowden's intelligence sparked a public debate about whether or not this collection of data was an example of an unreasonable search and seizure. NSA critics contend that the agency violated the Fourth Amendment because it neither had the appropriate warrants to use this data, nor had it disclosed the fact it was doing so. In the NSA's defense, others argue that the agency was doing what was necessary to protect public safety, and that the likely delays associated with getting a court warrant each time the government wants to monitor digital metadata could impede its ability to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Individual Rights

Constitutionally-established rights and freedoms protected by law from interference by the government

First Amendment

Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

Balancing Liberty & Order

Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental individual liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, as democracy depends upon the free exchange of ideas. The Supreme Court has supported the free speech rights of individuals engaged in protest, including nonverbal "symbolic speech." But freedom of speech is not absolute: the Court has upheld restrictions on defamatory and obscene speech, as well as speech that incites violence or lawbreaking.

Balancing Liberty and Order

Freedom of the press is critical for the functioning of a democracy, since it facilitates the free exchange of ideas. Since the 1970s, the Supreme Court has bolstered the freedom of the press by establishing a "heavy presumption against prior restraint." But freedom of the press is not absolute; citizens can seek redress if false statements printed about them damage their reputation, and leaking government documents that pose an immediate threat to American military forces is a crime.

New York times co. V. U.S. (1971)

In 1971, the United States government attempted to restrain the New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret history of US military action in Vietnam, based on national security concerns. In the resulting case, the Supreme Court ruled that the government's attempt to bar publication of the Pentagon Papers violated the First Amendment right to freedom of the press, and that publishing a history of the war did not pose an immediate national security threat to American military forces.

McDonald v. Chicago

The first case in which the second amendment right to "keep and bear arms" was incorporated to the states. The city of Chicago passed a handgun ban in 1982, Chicago resident Otis McDonald file the lawsuit challenging the van in 2008 on the basis that he needed a hand gun for self-defense. The court declared the handgun ban unconstitutional by a five for majority rule, ruling that the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense is fundamental, and therefore incorporated to the states through the 14th amendment due process clause

Right to an impartial jury

defendant has the right to face a jury that is not likely to have an opinion about the case already formed; protection under the 6th amendment

: Clear and present danger"

formulated during the case Schenck v. United States, the "clear and present danger" test permitted the government to punish speech likely to bring about evils that Congress had a right to prevent, such as fomenting anti-war sentiment; since the 1960s, the Supreme Court has replaced the "clear and present danger" test with the "direct incitement" test, reducing the circumstances under which the government can restrict speech only to those likely to result in imminent lawless action

prior restraint

government censorship of free expression by preventing publication or speech before it takes place; the Supreme Court has established a "heavy presumption against prior restraint" (in other words, it is likely the Court will declare unconstitutional an act of the government that blocks free expression)

Obscenity

lewd or sexual art or publications; although the Court has struggled to define what constitutes obscenity, it has upheld restrictions on materials that "to the average person applying contemporary community standards" depict offensive or sexual conduct and lack literary or artistic merit

Time, place, and manner restrictions

limits to freedom of expression based on when, where, and how individuals or organizations express opinions; for example, a city may require an organization to obtain a permit in order to conduct a public protest

Secular

nonreligious or unaffiliated with religion

Symbolic Speech

nonverbal forms of speech protected by the First Amendment, such as picketing, wearing armbands, displaying signs, or engaging in acts of symbolic protest such as flag burning

Non denominational prayer

prayer that does not advocate the beliefs of a specific religion but that acknowledges the existence of a divine being

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

A Supreme Court case concerning the mandatory schooling of three Amish students. The state of Wisconsin fined the students' families for refusing to send them to school after the eighth grade; the Amish families argued that higher education conflicted with the free exercise of their religious beliefs. The Court ruled in their favor, holding that the First Amendment's protections for free exercise of religion outweighed the state's interests in compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

A case contesting a New York state law requiring schoolchildren to recite a nondenominational prayer each morning (although children could choose not to participate). A group of parents sued the state arguing that the law was a violation of the establishment clause; the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, judging that New York state was giving unconstitutional government support to religion by providing the prayer.

Selective Incorporation

A judicial doctrine applying some protections of the Bill of Rights to the states, based on the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

exclusionary rule

A requirement that any evidence found during an illegal search or seizure cannot be used to try someone for a crime

Miranda Rule

A requirement that law-enforcement officers in form a person subject to an interrogation of the right not to incriminate themselves under the fifth and sixth amendments, created after the decision in Miranda versus Arizona 1966.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

A supreme court ruling that guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent.

Tenth Amendment

All powers not given to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to states or to the people

Schenck v. US (1919)

During World War I, socialist antiwar activists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer mailed 15,000 fliers urging men to resist the military draft. They were arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917, which banned interference with military operations or supporting US enemies during wartime. The resulting Supreme Court case concerned whether the Espionage Act violated freedom of speech. The Court upheld the Espionage Act, ruling that the speech creating a "clear and present danger" was not protected by the First Amendment.

Fourteenth Amendment

Explicitly guarantees certain rights against infringement by states, including citizenship, due process, and equal protection for all citizens before amendments 1868 adoption, these rights were protected at the federal level by the Bill of Rights, but not explicitly at the state level

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Iowa teenagers Mary Beth Tinker, her brother John, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from their public high school for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. In the resulting case, the Supreme Court ruled that the armbands were a form of symbolic speech, which is protected by the First Amendment, and therefore the school had violated the students' First Amendment rights.

Tinker v. Des Moines

Iowa teenagers Marybeth tinker, her brother John, and their friend Christopher were suspended from the public high school for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war in the resulting case the Supreme Court ruled that the arm bands were four of symbolic speech, which is protected by the First Amendment and applicable to all levels of government and therefore the school had violated the students first amendment rights

Roe v. Wade

Norma McCorvey, called by the alias Jane Roe in the court precedings wishes to terminate her pregnancy but found she could not do so safely or legally in the state of Texas. In the resulting Supreme Court case, the court ruled that's a women's decision to have an abortion in the first trimester or pregnancy was protected by the constitutional right to privacy which was incorporated to the states, and that it was there for unconstitutional for state to criminalize all abortions

Due process clause

Pro visions of the fifth and 14th amendments that limit the power of the government to deny people "life, liberty, or property" without fully respecting their legal rights and the correct legal procedure

Third Amendment

Right not to quarter soldiers during time of war

Sixth Amendment

Right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, to an attorney, and to confront witnesses

Seventh Amendment

Right to a trial by jury in civil cases

Fourth Amendment

Right to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure

Second Amendment

Right to keep and bear arms

Eighth Amendment

Right to not face excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual punishment

Fifth Amendment

Rights in criminal cases, including due process and protection from self-incrimination; no person can be tried for a serious crime without the indictment of a grand jury

*When ratifying the Constitution, Federalists and Anti-Federalists disagreed about how individual liberties and rights are protected in the Constitution. The two groups eventually agreed to ratify the Constitution and add the Bill of Rights, a series of ten amendments that explicitly protects individual liberties and rights. The Bill of Rights protects individual liberties and rights: The Supreme Court is responsible for hearing cases and interpreting the application of the provisions in the Bill of Rights. Since 1897, the Supreme Court has heard cases on potential state infringement of individual liberties and rights. The Court has found that the Bill of Rights must be upheld, even in states whose constitutions and laws do not protect fundamental liberties as fully as the Bill of Rights. Requiring states to uphold the Bill of Rights is made possible through selective incorporation. Selective incorporation is the process by which the Constitution effectively inserts parts of the Bill of Rights into state laws and constitutions. In this way, selective incorporation is an implicit, not explicit, process. The Supreme Court decides whether state laws are unconstitutional because they violate the Bill of Rights.

Since 1897, the Supreme Court has heard cases on potential state infringement of individual liberties and rights. The Court has found that the Bill of Rights must be upheld, even in states whose constitutions and laws do not protect fundamental liberties as fully as the Bill of Rights. Requiring states to uphold the Bill of Rights is made possible through selective incorporation. Selective incorporation is the process by which the Constitution effectively inserts parts of the Bill of Rights into state laws and constitutions. In this way, selective incorporation is an implicit, not explicit, process. The Supreme Court decides whether state laws are unconstitutional because they violate the Bill of Rights.

Bill of Rights

Ten amendments added to the Constitution to protect individual liberties and rights from government interference

Balancing liberty and order

The First Amendment prevents the government from supporting a religion and protects the free exercise of religion; citizens' ability to worship, or not worship, as they please is a fundamental individual liberty. The Supreme Court has upheld some limits to free exercise, however; although individuals may believe whatever they want, the government may limit actions that break secular laws if there is a compelling government interest at stake. Similarly, the Court has permitted some government support for religion, such as public funding for students attending religious schools.

Gideon v. Wainwright

The Supreme Court, incorporated the sixth amendment right to legal counsel at the state level, ruling that state courts were responsible for providing a lawyer to a defendant who could not afford one.

The Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment In recent decades, states have attempted to pass gun control legislation that would limit an individual's access to guns or to particular types of guns. Between 1791 and 2007, the Supreme Court issued rulings on four cases dealing with the Second Amendment. Since 2008, the Supreme Court has issued rulings on two landmark cases District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010). In both District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the Court struck down laws that placed restrictions on gun ownership. The majority in both cases argued that gun control legislation gave the government too much power and violated individual liberties.

The importance of McDonald v. Chicago has to do with the fact that Constitutional rights don't automatically apply to state and local governments. So, even though the decision in DC v. Heller had granted individuals the right to own operative had guns in their home in the District of Columbia, it was the McDonald decision that extended this right to state and local governments. The decision was based on the principle of "selective incorporation" of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We'll discuss this principle more in a future lesson.

Civil Liberties

The rights of citizens to be free from undue government interference in their lives, including those rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and those established by long legal precedent (such as the right to marry or travel freely)

Ninth Amendment

There are other rights besides the ones listed in the Bill of Rights and the federal government cannot violate those rights

Total Incorporation

a doctorine that applies all the garuntees of the Bill of Rights to the state level without exception; this doctrine has never been adopted by a Supreme Court majority opinion, although several dissenting justices have advocated for it

"Wall of Separation" between church and state

a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson in an 1802 letter, which described his view that there should be complete separation between the government and religion

Pentagon Papers

a top-secret account of U.S. military action in Vietnam, which showed that President Lyndon Johnson had lied to Congress and the public about the extent of the war; analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1970

public safety exception

an exception to the Miranda rule, it allows the police to perform on warned interrogation and have the findings to stand as direct evidence in court provided the information relates to Public Safety

Establishment clause

the first clause of the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion;" this prevents the federal government from supporting an official religion and sets the United States apart from many European nations, which provide official government support for a national, or "established," church

selective incorporation

the gradual process of applying amendments in the Bill of Rights to state and local government's, only some of the rights in the Bill of Tights have been selectively incorporated

Due Process

the legal requirement that an individual's rights must be respected by a state or government; protected at the federal level by the Fifth Amendment, and at the state level by the Fourteenth

Limits on State power

using the doctoring of selective incorporation, the Supreme Court has ruled that many provisions of the Bill of Rights applied to the states. This represents a limiting of the state power by federal oversight, any state attempt to regulate individual rights could potential he be ruled unconstitutional by the court