Civil Liberties

Give me liberty… Civil liberties are specific individual rights that are constitutionally protected against infringement by government Freedom of/Right(s) to/of: ▫Expression ▫Religion ▫Bear Arms ▫Privacy ▫Persons Accused of Crime

Freedom of Expression First amendment Sedition Act of 1798 Schenck v. U.S. (1919) ▫Espionage Act ▫Clear-and-present danger test

Free Speech National security must be directly and substantially imperiled before government can prohibit citizens from speaking out Less protective of symbolic speech? ▫Draft cards ▫Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Press Freedom New York Times v. U.S. (1971) What is prior restraint? When is prior restraint OK?

Selective Incorporation 14 th Amendment—Due Process Clause Gitlow v. New York (1925) Near v. Minnesota (1931) So when can states limit free speech? ▫Imminent lawless action test ▫Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) ▫Skokie (1977)

Libel? Slander? Obscenity? Libel is published Slander is spoken ▫3 parts to prove (false, exposure, damages) ▫Courts are less protective about what is said of private individuals ▫New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)  Actual malice So what is obscene? ▫Roth v. United States (1957)  No redeeming social value—Average person standard ▫Miller v. California (1973)  Local level—reasonable person

Establishment of Religion Government cannot favor one religion over another or support religion over no religion ▫The wall of separation Engel v. Vitale (1962) ▫No school prayer Van Orden v. Perry (2005) and McCreary v. ACLU (2005) Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) and Locke v. Davey (2004) Hein v. Freedom from Religion (2007)

Exercise of Religion Americans can believe whatever they want but are not always free to act on those beliefs Government will step in if interference is the secondary result of an overriding social goal (sick kids, for example) 1972 case with the Amish…we allow free exercise to be a reason to disobey valid laws Creationism and intelligent design Church of Lukumi Bablu Aye v. Hialeah (1993)

Right to Bear Arms “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) ▫Handgun—but not rifle or shotgun

What about the Right of Privacy? Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) ▫State law prohibiting birth control ▫Supreme Court hold that individuals have a “zone of [personal] privacy”

Abortions Roe v. Wade (1973) ▫Three months Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) ▫No public hospitals or public employees Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) ▫Regulations that do not produce an undue burden Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) ▫No partial birth abortions

Sex Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes Procedural due process ▫Selective incorporation again Mapp v. Ohio (1961) ▫4 th Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) ▫6 th Miranda v. Arizona (1966) ▫5 th and 6 th

Limits on Defendants’ Rights Roadblocks for intoxication are OK ▫Those for drugs are not (Indianapolis v. Edmund) ▫Ferguson v. Charleston (2001)—hospitals Exclusionary rule ▫Admitted in trial if the procedural errors are inadvertent or if the prosecution can show that it would have discovered evidence anyway Stop-and-search action is OK Hudson v. Michigan (2006)—no more knock and announce rule

Cruel and Unusual Punishment Court has allowed Congress and states to determine appropriate penalties for crimes ▫Furman v. Georgia (1972) ▫Gregg v. Georgia (1976) ▫Atkins v. Virginia (2002) ▫Panetti v. Quarterman (2007) What about powder v. crack cocaine?

The War on Terror Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004) ▫Who should be heard in U.S. courts? Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) ▫Military tribunals are not OK

For Thursday… Learn about the PATRIOT ACT. Is it a violation of our civil liberties? Why or why not? Rethink about our discussion of the Florida Pastor. In lieu of the cases we have discusses, would it have been OK for him to burn Qurans? When should the government be able to prevent protests? What is the four-part set-up by the Supreme Court to test to determine the constitutional validity of time, place, and manner regulation of expressive conduct in a public forum?