Transcript Civil Liberties - Verona Public Schools

Civil Liberties
And Public Policy
Civil Liberties
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Individual legal & constitutional
protections against the government
Set down in the Bill of Rights
What rights do Americans have?
What rights do Americans deserve?
Fourteenth Amendment
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“…nor [shall any state] deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
Makes all states have to uphold the First
Amendment according to the
incorporation doctrine first established
by Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Aka selective incorporation
First Amendment
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Establishes the “five great liberties”
• Press
• Speech
• Religion
• Assembly
• Petition the government
Freedom of Religion:
Establishment clause
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Debate over interpretation
What does the establishment clause mean?
Should there be separation of church and state?
• Engel v. Vitale (1962)
• Should prayer be allowed in schools?
• no school prayer
• Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
• Should governments fund church related schools?
• regulates aid to church-related schools: “Lemon test”
Freedom of Religion:
Free exercise clause
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Prohibits government from interfering with practice of
religion
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Reynolds v. U.S. (1879)
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Much less controversial
Should polygamy be allowed as part of a Mormon man’s
religious duty?
Polygamy is not protected “religious duty”
Difference between religious belief and action that flows
from religious belief
Oregon v. Smith (1990)
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Should you be allowed to take illegal drugs (peyote) in a
religious ceremony?
Can’t do illegal things because of your religion
Freedom of Religion
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Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby (2014)
Should a for-profit company be allowed
to deny its employees health coverage of
contraception based on religious
objections of the company’s owners?
Free Expression
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Free speech and press
Should you be able to say anything?
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
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Should students have free speech in school?
Yes, if it doesn’t interfere with school
Should the press be allowed to publish anything?
First Amendment Rights Are Not Absolute
Should student publications be treated differently than
privately held media outlets?
Do school administrators have special responsibilities to
censor student produced publications?
Freedom of Expression:
Free Speech & Public Order
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Biggest conflict between press and
government
Schenck v. U.S. (1919)
• Should you be allowed to tell people to resist
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the draft?
upheld conviction of socialist urging draft
resistance
Limits speech that promotes “clear and
present danger” of substantive evils
Freedom of Expression:
Obscenity (*&^%$!)
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Obscenity is not constitutionally protected speech or
press
What is obscenity?
Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it”
[Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964)]
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Miller v. California (1973)
• Should a porn store be able to send out a brochure with
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graphic images from its products?
Three-prong standard for obscenity = Miller test
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Appeal to a “prurient interest in sex”
“Patently offensive” sexual content
Lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value”
Freedom of Expression:
Libel & Slander
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What’s the difference? Are they allowed?
Slander = spoken defamation
Libel = written defamation = not protected
NY Times v. Sullivan (1964)
• Should the press be allowed to publish false
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statements about the conduct of public officials?
Public figures need to prove that statements were
intentionally malicious
Private individuals only need to show that
statements were defamatory lies and the author
was negligent
Freedom of Expression:
Symbolic Speech
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Texas v. Johnson (1989)
• Should you be able to burn the American flag
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as a protest statement?
Supreme Court struck down law banning flag
burning
Symbolic speech is protected by the First
Amendment
Commercial Speech
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Advertising = much more restricted than
other types of speech
Regulated by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC)
Radio & TV regulated by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
• More government regulation than print media
• Limited number of broadcasting frequencies
Freedom of Assembly
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What is it?
Right to gather together to make a statement
within reasonable limits
• Time, place, and manner restrictions
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Right to associate with people who share a
common interest
NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
• Should the NAACP be forced to reveal the names
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and addresses of all its members?
NAACP did not have to reveal its membership
Protected right to assemble
The Right to Bear Arms
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Is it an individual right?
Can there be limits on it?
Defendants’ Rights
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Most of the Bill of Rights is about
protecting people accused of crimes
• Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth
Amendments
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Stages of criminal justice system:
• Crime  arrest  prosecution  trial 
verdict / punishment
Defendants’ Rights:
Searches & Seizures
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Fourth Amendment prohibits
unreasonable s & s
Need probable cause for search warrant
• Reasonable grounds to believe someone
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guilty of crime
Written authorization from court specifying
area to be searched and what’s being
searched for
Searches & Seizures:
Exclusionary rule
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Prevents illegally seized evidence from
being used in court
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Should evidence obtained in an illegal search
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and seizure be admissible in court?
Extended exclusionary rule to the states
Critics believe this allows guilty people to go
free because of police incompetence or
human error
Court has increasingly made some exceptions
to exclusionary rule since 1980s
Defendants’ Rights:
Self-Incrimination
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“Pleading the Fifth”: suspects need not provide evidence that
can later be used against them
Immunity = exempt from prosecution in exchange for
testimony
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• Should police be allowed to interrogate you without telling
you of your right to counsel and protection against selfincrimination?
• Court established guidelines for police questioning
• Remain silent
• What they say can be used against them
• Right to an attorney
Defendants’ Rights:
Right to Counsel
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Guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment
(for federal courts)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Should right to counsel extend to felony
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defendants in state courts?
Yes
Defendants’ Rights:
Post-9/11
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Sixth Amendment guarantees that
accused have the right
• to be informed of accusations and
• to have a speedy and public trial
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After 9/11 FBI held more than 1200
people as possible dangers to national
security
• 762 illegal aliens
• Many languished in jail for months until
cleared by FBI
Defendants’ Rights:
Post-9/11
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First time in U.S. history federal
government withheld names of
detainees
Argued that this info would help terrorists
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld & Rasul v. Bush
(2004)
• Should “enemy combatants” get Due
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Process?
Yes
Defendants’ Rights:
Cruel & Unusual Punishment
Forbidden by Eighth Amendment
 Most of constitutional debate is centered on:
Is the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment?
 Furman v. Georgia (1972)
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Death penalty is not cruel and unusual
The way it’s being carried out is (arbitrary, racially biased)
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
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Does not violate Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments
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Right to Privacy
Should we have this right?
Not explicitly in the Bill of Rights -- Implied?
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
• Does a law banning birth control violate a couple’s
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right to marital privacy?
Bill of Rights grants unstated liberties implied by
explicitly stated rights
• First, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Amendment 
right to privacy in marital relations
Right to Privacy:
Abortion
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Should abortions be legal under any
circumstances?
Should abortions be legal in certain
circumstances?
Should abortions be legal in all
circumstances?
Right to Privacy:
Abortion
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Roe v. Wade (1973)
Divided pregnancy into three trimesters
• 1st: Forbade any government control of
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abortions
2nd: Permitted states to allow regulated
abortions only to protect mothers’ health
3rd: Allowed states to ban except when life or
health of mother is in danger
Not overturned, but restricted
Abortion rights:
Restrictions
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Congress has passed several laws forbidding
use of federal funds
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
• Do any of these laws infringe on right to privacy or
equal protection?
• Public employees and facilities can’t be used in performing or
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assisting abortions
Counseling to have abortions prohibited
Viability testing after 20 weeks
• Upheld Missouri laws
Abortion rights:
More restrictions
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Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
• Do any of these laws violate Roe?
• 24 hour waiting period
• Parental/judicial consent for minors
• Husband notification requirement
• Only the third fails “undue burden” test
• Gave government more power to regulate
abortions