Civil Rights and Civil Liberties By Ashley Welch Corey S. Alberta P.

The development of civil liberties and civil rights by judicial interpretation… Civil liberties is defined as individual legal and constitutional protections against the government. The most used example is the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was written because of how England’s king treated the colonies. The Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the content and scope of our liberties.

The Bill of Rights protects American citizens from the government’s power, which is exactly why the framers wrote them. The Supreme Court ruled in Barron v. Baltimore (1833) that the Bill of Rights only applied to the national government, not on the state or city level. However, it reversed its ruling with Gitlow v. New York with stated that the freedom of press and speech were “fundamental liberties” and thus would be enacted on every government level. Now almost all of the Bill of Rights freedoms have been incorporated to be used in the state as well as national government.

The 14th amendment has contributed to the fight for civil liberties and rights a lot because it says that states can deny equal protection of the laws, or abridge the privileges/ immunities of American citizens. The due process clause has also been greatly involved in the struggle for liberty.

The courts have interpreted how far liberties extend compared to the safety of the U.S. in many important Supreme Court cases. For example… Engle v. Vitale ruled that prayer in public school was illegal because it went against the establishment and free exercise clause. Near v. Minnesota which made prior restraint (preventing material from being published) illegal because it went against the 1st amendment for free press, and was needed to protect newspapers.

Other important cases relevant to civil liberties include… Lemon v. Kurtzman, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, and School District of Abington Township Pennsylvania v. Schempp which all relate to religion and schooling. Schenck v. United Statesan Texas v. Johnson which related to the freedom of speech. Roth v. United States, and Miller v. California relate to obscenities in speech and press. Zurcher v. Stanford Daily, New York Times v. Sullivan, Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo, and Red Lion Broadcasting Company v. Federal Communications Commission relate to the freedom of press (and nowadays media).

Other important cases include… NAACP v. Alabama which discusses the right to assemble. The U.S. legal system was also written to protect defendants rights. Mapp v. Ohio deals with unreasonable searches and seizures. Miranda v. Arizona relates to self-incrimination. Gideon v. Wainwright deals relates to the right to a have a lawyer. Gregg v. Georgia, and McCleskey v. Kemp relates to the constitutionality of the death penalty. Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey deals with the controversial issue of abortion.

In general, the U.S. takes the individual’s liberties very seriously. One pretty public example was when boxer Muhammad Ali was prosecuted for dodging the Vietnam war draft. He said he opposed war on religious grounds (Islam) and his conviction was eventually overturned. Sadly, civil rights have had a more difficult time becoming accepted in the U.S.

Civil Rights Civil rights is defined as policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals. Discrimination is usually based on race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and more. Even though it seems pretty obvious nowadays that minorities deserve the same rights as the typical “white male” but it has not always been that way. It has been a very long struggle for many people to where we politically and socially stand today. A lot of that is thanks to the involvement of the judicial system.

In Scott v. Sandford the Supreme Court pleased the Southern states when they ruled that an escaped slave had no rights as a citizen in a free state and that Congress could not ban slavery in territories. After the civil war, segregation was occurring and the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was ok based on the principle of “equal but separate”. Finally the Supreme Court takes a stand for civil rights with their Brown v. Board of Education ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional.

Desegregation began very slowly especially in the Southern states. After a year the Supreme Court ordered lower courts to proceed in helping desegregate public schools. The Court said if schools were legally segregated than the authorities would have to be involved. After help from Congress, schools finally made progress. Laws to make discrimination in all aspects of life, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, began to make real progress. Other minorites didn’t get as much attention as African Americans so cases like Hernandez v. Texas, which extended the protection against discrimination to Hispanics, helped broaden the boundaries.

The rights of slaves were discussed at the Constitutional Convention; however, the rights of women was never uttered. The Feminist movement may still be considered in progress. Issues like woman being drafted lead the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to failure. Reed v. Reed, and Craig v. Boren discussed gender discrimination. Civil rights laws do increase the power of government, but making sure the basic rights of citizens aren’t threatened is one of the governments necessary jobs.