Transcript Civil Liberties PowerPoint

Civil Liberties
Chapter 5
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The protections the
Constitution provides
against the abuse of
government power
The protection against
excessive laws which
infringe on your actions
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Framers’ believed:
◦ Constitution stated what
the national government
COULD do
◦ Constitution did NOT say
what state governments
could NOT do
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Sedition Act of 1798
◦ Can’t defame the president
◦ Fear of Anarchy (specifically – Jefferson)
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Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 – 1919
◦ Must protect the military
◦ WWI fears of German immigrants
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Smith Act
◦ Protect the government from revolutionary urgings
◦ Communist Party members had to register with the
government
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Internal Security Act
◦ Protect the government from revolutionary urgings
◦ Fear of communist propaganda
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Communist Control Act
◦ Protect the government from revolutionary urgings
◦ Declared communists to be part of an antiAmerican conspiracy
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Legacy
◦ Most restrictions are found to be
CONSTITUTIONAL!
◦ As the crisis abates, the laws become
“unimportant”
◦ Yet, they remain on the books!
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Early America
◦ Very “Anglo”
◦ Very Christian (PROTESTANT)
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Immigration brings in “New Cultures”
◦ Religion
 Jews
 Catholics
◦ Heritage Groups
 Respect culture
 Bilingual education
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Emerging thoughts
◦ Boy Scouts and gay scout masters
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Original thought: Constitution only applied
to the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Changed to include the idea that it applied to
the STATE GOVERNMENTS as well
◦ Post-Civil War Era
◦ 14th Amendment
 Equal Protection
 Due Process
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Principle of SELECTIVE INCORPORATION
◦ Supreme Court
◦ Almost all of the Bill of Rights has been
incorporated
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Freedom of Expression
◦ Press should be free of PRIOR RESTRAINT
 Laws cannot censor content ahead of time
 Papers/media are liable if their expression is deemed
 Improper
 Mischievous
 Illegal
◦ Schenk vs. US
 “CLEAR AND
PRESENT DANGER”
Expression NOT automatically
granted Constitutional protection
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1. Libel – PUBLISHED statements which defame
 TESTS
 Truly false
 Caused actual damage
 Made with malice
 Public Figures
 Is it satire?
 Will people really believe
it?
Expression NOT automatically
granted Constitutional protection
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2. Obscenity
 Has no redeeming social value
 Calculated to appeal to one’s sexual nature
 Not for political or literary interests
 TESTS
 The AVERAGE person using CONTEMPORTY
COMMUNITY standards would consider it obscene
 Appeals to “prurient” interests
 Depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way
(as defined in law)
 Lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value
Expression NOT automatically
granted Constitutional protection
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3. Symbolic Speech
An ACT that conveys a
POLITICAL MESSAGE
Some is protected, some isn’t
– good luck!
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You cannot
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Do an act which threatens another person’s life
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Do an act which threatens another person’s property
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Directly disrupts needed social institutions
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You can use symbols of the US government (flag)

Expression NOT automatically
granted Constitutional protection
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4. False
Advertising
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Who has protected rights?
Who is a person?
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Citizens
Children
Interest Groups
Labor Unions
Corporations
 More limits allowed on commercial entities
 Regulations
 Narrowly directed at a specific product
 Serve a substantial public interest
The Church and State
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The Free Exercise Clause
◦ The National Government cannot pass any law which
restricts the exercise of religious practice
◦ Selectively Incorporated
◦ “Do or say whatever, just don’t cause serious harm to
others”
◦ Parameters
 Laws cannot be tailored to a religious practice that is allowed
in other parts of the culture
 Religions can’t break laws that applies to other parts of
culture.
The Church and State
 The Establishment Clause
◦ The “Wall of Separation”
 NO government connections to religion at all –
NONE, ZERO, NADDA, ZIP, ZILCH
 Does not appear in the Constitution!
◦ Involvement MAY occur if
 The action has a secular purpose
 Not allied with or against any particular religion
 Is religiously “neutral”
 The PRIMARY effect neither advances nor inhibits a religion
 Does not foster excessive government entanglements
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Exclusionary Rule – 4th Amendment
◦ Unreasonable Search and Seizure
◦ Improperly gathered evidence cannot be used to prosecute
◦ Selectively Incorporated in Mapp v. Ohio
◦ TESTS for Legal Searches
 A detailed warrant is produced
 Place
 What is being sought
 What is probably cause
 Post-arrest
 Your person
 Things in plain view
 Things under your immediate control
Exclusionary Rule
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Protection from self-incrimination – 5th Amendment
Protected from giving statements because of
◦ Torture
◦ Lack of awareness
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Selectively Incorporated in Malloy vs. Hogan
Other SCOTUS cases
◦ Miranda v. Arizona – officials must make SURE the
suspect knows his or her rights
◦ Gideon v. Wainwright – right to an attorney
Exclusionary Rule
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Protection from self-incrimination – 5th Amendment
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GOOD-FAITH EXCEPTION
◦ Evidence is good if
 The police believed that the warrant was valid
 There are overriding public safety considerations
 The evidence would have been “inevitably found”
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The Patriot Act
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Telephone tapping of multiple phones
Internet tapping with court order
Voice mail seizure with court order
Grand jury information sharing
Non-citizens held if thought to be a security risk
Money Tracking
Statute of limitations extended for terrorist acts
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Patriot Sunsets Extension Act
◦ President Obama extends parts of the PATRIOT Act
◦ Renews three central federal powers
 Roving Wiretaps
 Library Provisions Powers
 Lone Wolf Provisions
◦ Requires the government
get an order from a
federal court –
May be a SECRET court order