Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Civil Liberties or Civil Rights? Civil liberties are those personal freedoms that are protected for all individuals and that generally deal with individual freedom. Civil liberties typically involve restraining the government’s actions against individuals. Civil rights are those rights rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The term refers to the positive acts of government that seek to make constitutional guarantees a reality for all people.

The Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. They were added to the document as a compromise between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.

Civil Liberties Bill of Rights First Amendment Establishment Clause – “Lemon Test,” Lemon v. Kurtzman The Free Exercise Clause Freedom of Expression Clear & Present Danger Test Symbolic Expression Obscene Material Press

The Second Amendment – the “true” meaning? Fifth Amendment Sixth Amendment Eighth Amendment Ninth Amendment – Privacy The “Slavery” Amendments – 13th, 14th, 15th

Civil Rights Equality of Outcome v. Equality of Opportunity Barriers to Civil Rights – poll tax, racial segregation, separate-but-equal Civil Rights Movement: NAACP, Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Disobedience, Malcolm X, the Black Panters Civil Rights Act of 1964 De Jure v. De Facto Segregation

Extension of Civil Rights Native Americans Women, 19th Amendment, Equal Pay Act of 1963, and Title VII, Defeat of the ERA 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act Aegism The Gay Rights Movement Affirmative Action