1. Ap u.s. government & politics
Thursday, April 5, 2018

2. Warm-Up/HW Check
Most of the individual protections of the Bill of Rights now apply to the states because of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution’s:
a. Preamble.
b. Necessary and proper clause.
c. Supremacy clause
d. Tenth Amendment
e. Fourteenth Amendment

3. Current events discussion
7 Minutes

4. “selective incorporation” of rights, via the due process clause

5. The Bill of Rights
Protects many of the traditional rights of citizens:
Religion
Speech
Keep and bear arms
From unreasonable searches
Trial by jury
Etc.
When the Bill of Rights was originally enacted, who did it protect us against?
The Supreme Court confirmed this in Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

6. The 14th Amendment and Incorporation
The 14th Amendment places serious restrictions on the states’ police power
In the wake of its enactment, some scholars argued that the Amendment incorporated the protections in the Bill of Rights, making them applicable to the states
The Supreme Court never definitively answered this question
Instead, the Court has opted for Selective Incorporation:
Specific fundamental rights are ruled to be applicable to the states, when issues regarding the denial of those rights have been raised in individual cases
The textual “vehicle” for incorporation is the Due Process Clause:
Selected rights are ruled to be so fundamental to individual liberty, that denial of those rights by a state would amount to a denial of “due process”

7. Student SCOTUS Intro: Free Speech Fact Pattern
Individually, read the fact pattern and consider the question of whether the statute at issue is a violation of the right to free speech.
Write your Opinion, in which you decide the case and explain your reasoning.

8. Homework 1) Freedom of Speech Fact Pattern and Opinion
2) Textbook, p