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