Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights

Question 1

What are Civil Liberties?

Answer 1

Fundamental individual rights of a free society like freedom of speech and the right to a jury trial, protected under the United States Bill of Rights.

Question 2

_______ ________ are questions of whether members of different groups are treated equally by the government and private parties, while ______ __________ are individual rights, such as freedom of speech and press.

Answer 2

Civil Rights; civil liberties

Question 3

What is the Bill of Rights in the Constitution?

Answer 3

The first 10 amendments of the constitution that provide a set of rights that the federal government is obligated to protect such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections for persons accused of a crime.

Question 4

What type of government did the Bill of Rights originally only apply to?

Answer 4

The federal government, the state governments didn’t have to follow it

Question 5

The clase of the constitution (included in 14th amendment) that has been used by the judiciary to apply the bill of rights protections to the actions of state governments is?

Answer 5

The due Process clause - stated that no state would deprive anyone of life, liberty, property without due process of law, initially ignored by the supreme court though

Question 6

What did the Supreme court rule in the Gitlow v. New York case?

Answer 6

That states didn’t have total control over what their residents could legally say

Question 7

What was so significant about the Gitlow v. New York ruling stating that states didn’t have total control over what residents could legally say?

Answer 7

A fundamental shift in consitutional doctrine. Court concluded that a right protected by the bill of rights from action by federal government was now also protected from the actions by state governments, was applied to other 1st amendments rights shortly after.

Question 8

What is the doctrine of selective incorporation?

Answer 8

The use of the 14th amendment to apply selected provisions of the bill of rights to the states.

Question 9

How was the doctrine of selective incorporation applied to the Mapp v. Ohio case?

Answer 9

Dollree Mapp was wrongfully arrested and searched, upon which incriminating photos were found. Because of the unconstitutional police actions, her conviction was overturned by the supreme court, where the 14th amendment was cited on unreasonable searches and seizures, and the evidence gathered couldn’t be used to obtain a conviction in state courts.

Question 10

When did the Supreme court finally rule that defendants in state criminal proceedings must be provided a lawyer in felony cases if they can’t afford one?

Answer 10

1960s

Question 11

True or False?

Selective incorporation through the 14th amendment’s due process is important because state and local governments have the most responsibility for maintaining public order and safety and are the most likely to act in ways that infringe on people’s rights.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

What freedom does the 1st amendment provide?

Answer 12

The freedom of expression - the rights of individual american’s to communicate ideas of their choosing such as freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Question 13

What forms of speech are not protected by the first amendment?

Examples?

Answer 13

Some forms of commercial speech as well as some forms of sexual expressionion - pharmaceutical companies in public advertising are required by law to disclose the harmful side effects of drugs, child pornography

Question 14

What act was passed in which Congress ignored the first amendment?

What did the Act do and who opposed it?

Answer 14

The Sedition act of 1798

Made it a crime to print newsparper stories critical of the president or other top national officials; Thomas Jefferson opposed it and after replacing John Adams as president in 1801, pardoned everyone convicted under it.

Question 15

In what circumstances can free expression be denied?

Answer 15

When it endangers national security, wrongly damages someone elses reputation of others, deprives others of their basic rights

Question 16

What does the first amendment’s freedom of speech part say you can’t say?

Answer 16

Anything obscene, slanderous, or has high probability of inciting others to make imminent lawless choices

Question 17

Does the 1st amendment’s freedom of religion say you can’t believe what you like but you are protected from having religious beliefs forced on you?

Answer 17

No, it says that you are free to believe what you would like, and you are protected from having religious beliefs of others imposed on you

Question 18

In the 1st amendment’s freedom of assembly part, what can government regulate?

Answer 18

While free to assembly, government may regulate time and place for public convenience and safety reasons as long as it’s applied evenhandedly to all groups.

Question 19

For the first amendment’s freedom of press, in what circumstances does it say you are free to write or publich almost anything?

Answer 19

You are free to do so except when it’s obscene, libels another person, seriously endangers military action or national security, of has a high probability of inciting others to take imminent lawless action.

Question 20

What was one of the first restrictions to the freedom of speech in the U.S in 1917 which prohibited forms of dissent that could harm the nation’s effort in World war 1?

Answer 20

The 1917 Espionage Act

Question 21

What legislation became the subject of the 1st supreme court free-expression ruling in Schenck v. United States (1919)?

Answer 21

The 1917 Espionage act

Question 22

What were the defendents convictions that were upheld by the supreme court in the Schenck v. United States?

Answer 22

The defendants were convicted of distributing leaflets urging draft-age men to refuse induction into the military service

Question 23

Which Justice in the Schenck v. United States case wrote for a unanimous court upholding the constitutionality of the Espionage act?

Answer 23

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes - argued that not even the first amendment would permit a person to inflict conflict or panic in the name of pree speech

Question 24

What constitutional standard did the Schenck v. United States case establish despite the unholding of the Espionage act which limited free expression?

Answer 24

The clear and present danger test: a test devised by the supreme court in 1919 to define the limis of free speech in the context of national security, stating that government couldn’t abridge political expression unless it presented clear and present danger to the nation’s security

Question 25

What defining case marked the actions of the Supreme court protecting speech from the actions of the states?

Answer 25

Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

Question 26

Who was Clarence Brandenburg in the Brandenberg v. Ohio case 1969 and what was he convicted of?

Answer 26

Brandenburg was convicted of stating at a Ku Klux Klan rally that revenge might be taken if the national government continued to suppress the white caucasian race and convicted under an ohio law.

Question 27

What did the supreme court rule in the Brandenburg v. Ohio case (1969)?

Answer 27

The supreme court overturned Brandenburg’s conviction, stating that a state couldn’t prohibit speech unless it meets the requirements of a two part test - directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and likely to produce such action

Question 28

What is imminent lawless action?

Answer 28

A legal test and barrier on any government attempting to restrict speech unless the advocacy is aimed at producing, and likely to produce imminent lawless action

Question 29

True or False? In a unaminous 1992 opinion, the court struck down a St. Paul, Minnesota, ordinance making it a crime to engage in speech likely to arouse “anger or alarm” on the basis of “race, color, creed, religion or gender.” The Court said that the First amendment prohibits government from “silencing speech on the basis of its content.” (This protection of hate speech doesn’t apply to hate crimes like assault, motivated by racial or other prejudice.

Answer 29

True

Question 30

How did the Supreme court vote in the Wisconsin law that allowed lengthier sentences for hate crimes?

Answer 30

In the unanimous 1993 opinion, the court said that the law wasn’t aimed at free speech and instead aimed at “conduct unprotected by the first amendment.”

Question 31

Who was Matthew Snyder in the Snyder v. Phelps case (2011) and who protested against him? What did the supreme court rule after Snyder’s father sued WBC for emotional distress and was awarded 5 million in a federal trial?

Answer 31

Matthew Snyder was a U.S. marine killed in Iraq, who was protested at his funeral by the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) because he was a gay soldier three blocks away from the Memorial service. The Supreme court to an 8-1 ruling overturned the award, stating that while hurtful, the WBC’s protest was protected under the first amendment in the constitution

Question 32

What is symbolic speech? Example?

Answer 32

Actions for the purpose of expressing a political opinion Ex: Waving or burning of a flag

Question 33

What was the supreme court ruling towards Texas’s argument stating that flag burning was in every instance a danger to public safety in response to Gregory Lee Johnson setting a flag on fire outside the hall in Dallas where the 1984 Republican National Convention was being held?

Answer 33

The supreme court rejected texas’s argument, stating that government can’t prohibit expression simply because someone finds it effensive.

Question 34

In general, the Supreme Court has held that government regulation of the __________ of a message is unconstitutional. How was Texas regulating the content of the message of Gregory Lee Johnson burning the flag?

Answer 34

content Texas was regulating the content of the message through the contempt for the flag and the principles it represents. Texas couldn’t have been regulating because the texas government’s method for disposing worn out flags is to burn it

Question 35

What was a key case in 1977 regarding the freedom of assembly of American Nazi Party in Skokie, Illinois?

Answer 35

The US supreme court in 1977 upheld a lower-court ruling against local ordinances trying to prevent a parade there by a American Nazi Party in Skokie, Illinois which had large Jewish population including Nazi survivers. Supreme court stated that it had the right to free assembly, and that took precedence over the possibility of undesirable consequences of that event.

Question 36

In terms of freedom of speech and assembly, can the Court regulate time, place, and conditions of public assembly, provided regulations are reasonable and applied fairly to all groups no matter the issue?

Answer 36

Yes

Question 37

What case showed the strenth of strong judicial protection for freedom of press in 1971? What were the Pentagon Papers? What was the government prohibition of speech or publication before occuring that was brought up in the New York Times Co. v. United States case that also is the basis of the current doctrine of press freedom? What is an exception to this?

Answer 37

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) - publicated the “pentagon papers” which were secret gov’t documents revealing officials deceived the public about aspects of the vietnam war, and the supreme court stated they couldn’t be blocked by government, which claimed that publication would harm the war effort. The Prior Restraint - wartime reporting; in some circumstances, government can censor news reprots that contain information that could compromise a mimlitary operation or risk the lives of american troops

Question 38

False information harmful to a person’s reputation is published (________) or spoken (__________) allows the injured party to sue for damages.

Answer 38

Libel; slander

Question 39

In what court case did the Supreme court overrule an alabama state court that found the New York Times guilty of libel for publishing an advertisement that claimed that alabama officials mistreated civil rights activists, and even though some of the allegations were true, the Supreme court backed the times stating that libel needed proof of malice. What did it show interms of the legal protects of false statements?

Answer 39

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) - showed that false statements get considerable legal protection

Question 40

What two clauses are apart of the First Amendment regarding the freedom of religion?

Answer 40

1. The establishment clause | 2. The free-exercise clause

Question 41

What does the establishment clause mean?

Answer 41

The first amendment provision stating that government can’t favor one religion over another or favor religion over no religion and prohibiting congress from passing laws respecting the establishment of religion.

Question 42

True or False? Public schools can impose particular religious beliefs on children.

Answer 42

False - prohibited from imposing religious beliefs on children

Question 43

What is the difference between the wall-of-separation doctrine and the accommodation doctrine?

Answer 43

Wall-of-separation doctrine - strict separation of church and state when erecting religious statues and displays in public court houses Accommodation doctrine - allows government to aid religious activity if no preference is shown toward a particular religion and if the assistance is of a nonreligious nature

Question 44

When was the wall-of-separation and accommodation doctrine - usually applied with a three-point test known as the Lemon test - applied and articulated? What happened in this case?

Answer 44

In the Lemon v. Kurtzman case (1971) - The court held that state funding of salaries of religious school teachers failed the lemon test, saying that it involved an excess amount of government entanglement with religion because an instructor, even in math and science classes, could teach religion

Question 45

What is the Lemon test? What clause is it testing whether religious law is valid? When does an argument pass the lemon test?

Answer 45

A three part test to determine whether a law relating to religion is valid under the religious establishment clause. When the law has a secure purpose, serves neither to advance nor inhibit religion, and avoids excessive government entanglement with religion

Question 46

What is the Free-exercise clause?

Answer 46

A first amendment provision that prohibits the government from interfering with the practice of religion; americans are free to hold any religious belief of their choosing.

Question 47

When can government interfere with the exercise of religion, who allows government to do this?

Answer 47

The supreme court allows government to interfere with exercise of religion when the exercise of religious beliefs conflict with valid laws in place.

Question 48

Read the free-exercise decision Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores in 2014 and the 2018 ruling Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Answer 48

Chapter 4

Question 49

What right the second amendment of the Constitution protect in terms of civilians and limit in terms of government?

Answer 49

The right of people to keep and bear arms unconnected to service in a militia, and to use the arm for lawful purposes such as self-defense, and the ability for states to form militia’s necessary for the state security. “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.”

Question 50

What does the second amendment prevent the government from doing?

Answer 50

Abolishing state militia’s like the National Guard

Question 51

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), who did the court rule with regarding The district of colombia’s law that banned handgun possession, but not rifles or shotguns within the district’s boundaries? What government did the Heller ruling apply to?

Answer 51

Sided with Heller, against the District of columbia in a 5-4 majority rule Only applied to the federal government

Question 52

When did the Heller ruling apply to the state and local governments?

Answer 52

After the McDonald v. Chicago case in 2010, where through selective incorporation, applied the same standard to state and local governments.

Question 53

What wasn’t prohibited in the Heller and Chicago cases in terms of gun ownership?

Answer 53

There weren’t bans on gun ownership for former felons

Question 54

When was the right to privacy added to the bill of rights? What case was it derived from?

Answer 54

1965 Griswold v. Connecticut - challenging a state law prohibiting the use of condoms and other birth control devices, even with married couples - supreme court struck down the law using the underlying right of privace

Question 55

What type of right is the right to privacy?

Answer 55

The right implied by freedoms in the bill of rights that granted individuals a degree of personal privacy upon which government couldn’t lawfully intrude, gives individuals a level of gree choice in areas like reproduction and intimate relations

Question 56

What two major areas has the right of privacy been invoked in?

Answer 56

1. Abortion rights for women | 2. Consensual relations among same-sex couples

Question 57

What was so significant about the Roe v. Wade case (1973) regarding the right to privacy in a certain controversial area?

Answer 57

The supreme court ruled, giving women full freedom to choose abortion during the first three months of pregnancy

Question 58

Does the US have a constitutional amendment that bans abortion?

Answer 58

No

Question 59

What Louisiana law did the Supreme court strike down in 2020 in the June Medical services v. Russo case?

Answer 59

The louisiana law states that abortion providers would have to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic, which would have caused 2 of the 3 state abortion clinics to close. Supreme court ruled in a 5-4 decision that it imposed undue burden on women seeking an abortion

Question 60

When was the same-sex consensual sexual relations right of privacy finally enacted?

Answer 60

Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 with a 6 - 3 court ruling, supreme court reversed its earlier position and stated that sodomy laws violated the right of privacy implied by the grant of liberty in the 14th amendment’s due process clause

Question 61

What clause and amendment was the right to privacy implied in?

Answer 61

Implied in the Grant of liberty in the fourteenth amendment’s due process clause

Question 62

When did the supreme court legalize same sex marriage?

Answer 62

2015

Question 63

What is due process?

Answer 63

Legal protections that have been established to preserve the rights of individuals

Question 64

The most significant of due process protections is ______________ ___ ________. What does it mean?

Answer 64

Procedural due process - the constitutional requirement that government must follow proper legal procedueres before a person can be legitimately punished for an alleged offense.

Question 65

Which amendments offer procedural safeguards designed to protect a person from wrongful arrest, conviction and punishment?

Answer 65

4th, 5th, 6th, 8th amendments include specific procedural protections of the accused 14 and 15 amendments generally say that no person can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law

Question 66

What do the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th amendments protect the accused from in terms of due process protections?

Answer 66

4th: protected from unreasonable search and seizure, forfeit right if you knowingly waive it; protected from arrest unless authorities have probable cause to believe that you have committed a crime 5th: protected from self-incrimination - right to remain silent and protected against coercion by law enforcement officials; double jeopardy - can’t be tried twice for the same crime if the first trial results in acquittal; due process - can’t be deprived of life, liberty, or property without proper legal proceedings 6th: right to counsel - to be represented by attorney and can demand to speak first with attorney before responding to questions from law enforecement officials; right to be arraigned promptly, informed of charges, confront witnesses, and to have speedy and open trial by impartial jury 8th: protected against excessive bail or fines; protected from cruel and unusual punishment - this provision doesn’t protect from death penalty or long prison term for minor offense

Question 67

What two significant court cases delivered a landmark ruling unanimously regarding California and Massachusetts? What were the similarities of both cases? What was Riley’s verdict?

Answer 67

Riley v. California United States v. Wurie Both involved the police searching the suspects phone without a warrant and found information incriminating the suspect - supreme court noted that while upon making an arrest, police can normally search a suspect and seize relevant physical items, cell phones and electronic devices were a different ball game because they contain large amounts of personal information. Riley, after appealing his conviction, was backed by the supreme court in a 9-0 ruling, confirming that police had violated his right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure - warrant is required most of the time to search an electronic device

Question 68

When does the supreme court allow warrantless searches?

Answer 68

School administrators latitude in searching students for drugs and weapons. Police roadblocks to check drivers for signs of intoxication are legal as long as the action is systematic and not arbitrary Police prohibits police roadblocks to check for drugs - serve a general law enforcement purpose rather than one specific to highway safety and thereby violate the 4 amendment’s requirement that police must have suspicion of wrongdoing before they can search an individuals auto

Question 69

What was the significance of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) in terms of the 5th amendment? What procedure did this lead to?

Answer 69

Ernesto Miranda confessed to kidnapping and rape during police questioning, however, because police didn’t inform him of his right to remain silent and have legal assistance as per the 5th amendment, the supreme court overturned his conviction. The Miranda warning - police are required by law to inform a suspect of their rights when bringing them into custody and afterwards.

Question 70

What 5 warnings do suspects get when being brought into custody as per the Miranda ruling?

Answer 70

1. You have the right to remain silent 2. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law 3. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you while you are being questioned 4. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer. One will be appointed to represent you before any questioning if you wish 5. You can decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements Waiver: Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you? Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?

Question 71

What right is basic to any reasonable notion of justice in a court of law?

Answer 71

The right to a fair trial

Question 72

Is the federal government required to use grand juries? Why or Why Not? Are states required to use grand juries? Why or Why Not? Who does decide whether a suspect is tried if the grand jury isn’t making the decision?

Answer 72

Yes, because a person charged with a federal crime can’t be tried unless indicted by a grand jury as per the 5th amendment where the grand jury listens to the prosecution’s evidence and decides whether it’s strong enought to allow the government to try the suspect. No, because while suspects charged with a federal crime need to be indicted by a grand jury before being tried as per the 5th amendment, this protection doesn’t apply to the 14th amendment, so states aren’t required to use grand juries. The prosecutor usually decides whether to proceed with the trial.

Question 73

What two cases led to the decision that criminal defendants in federal cases must be provided a lawyer at the government expense if they can’t afford one, and extended the requirement to include state cases a few decades later as per the 6th amendment?

Answer 73

Johnson v. Zerbst (1938) and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963).

Question 74

Review Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) in your textbook

Answer 74

Chapter 4

Question 75

When did the supreme court outlaw the stacking of juries by race?

Answer 75

1968

Question 76

True or False? Criminal defendants have the right to a speedy trial and to confront witnesses against them. At the federal and sometimes state level, criminal defendants have the right to jury trial, which is heard by an impartial jury.

Answer 76

True

Question 77

What does the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause require from a jury for serious offenses from the federal and now the state level? When and what case was this put into place?

Answer 77

That there is a unanimous jury. Ramos v. Louisiana (2020) with a 6 - 3 jury ruling

Question 78

Where group were non-unanimous state juries traced?

Answer 78

Back to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and their efforts to destroy the influence of ethnic, religious and racial minorities

Question 79

What is the exclusionary rule?

Answer 79

The legal principle that government isn’t allowed to use evidence that was obtained through unconstitutional means in trial - like illegal search and seizures

Question 80

What case was the exclusionary rule formated from and what was it used to deter?

Answer 80

Weeks v. United States (1914) - used to deter police from violating people’s rights

Question 81

Was the exclusionary rule used widely when first formulated? If not, when and who expanded its use?

Answer 81

No, it wasn’t widely used in 1914 even after Weeks v. United States (1914). It was expanded in 1960’s the liberals that dominated the supreme court expanded the rule to the point where illegally gathered or obtained evidence was almost never admissible.

Question 82

What are a few exceptions to the exclusionary rule brought on after conservatives justices criticized the rule of “coddling criminals” and more conservatives were appointed to the court?

Answer 82

The good faith exception - otherwise inadmissible evidence can be used in trial if police honestly believed they were following proper procedures, like obtaining a search warrant that ends up faulty The inevidable discovery exception - even if incriminating evidence is wrongly obtained, it can be used if it would have inevitably been discovered by lawful means The plain view exception - evidence found in plain sight is admissible even when the evidence relates to an infraction other than the one for which the individual was stopped, like if a driver is pulled over for speeding and the officer spots illegal drugs on the back seat

Question 83

How many appeals do the federal and all state governments permit?

Answer 83

At least one appeal

Question 84

True and False? Under a law enacted in 1996 to prevent inmates form filing multiple appeals, typically allowed only a single appeal. Exceptions that the supreme court has held that prisoners have the right to have their appeal heard in federal court unless they had deliberately passed the opportunity to first make their appeal in state courts.

Answer 84

True

Question 85

What constitutional rights have been applied unevenly regarding police practices?

Answer 85

Racial profiling - targeting individuals from minority groups. Sentencing policies - stiffer penalties since the 1990’s from crime while trying to prevent judges from reducing sentences for nonviolent crimes committed by first time offenders

Question 86

On a per capita basis, which country has the largest prison population in the world?

Answer 86

1. United States 2. Cuba 3. Russia 4. Iran 5. Mexico 6. Great Britain 7. China 8. France 9. Canada 10. Japan

Question 87

True or False: Sentencing laws that implement early-release programs have been applied regarding the human and financial cost of keeping so many people in prison

Answer 87

True

Question 88

Where did the Bush administration hold “enemy combatants” after 9/11? What were they subject to?

Answer 88

Detention facility at the US naval base at Guantanamo bay on the tip of cuba. Afghanistan, Iraq. Subject to abusive treatment, torture

Question 89

What supreme court decisions were made regarding “enemy combatants” after 9/11 that gave more rights to enemy combatants?

Answer 89

2004 - ruled that detainees had the right to challenge their detention in court 2004 - american detainee had the right to be heard in US courts Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) - tribunals were unlawful because they didn’t provide minimal protections of detainees’ rights, like seeing evidence against them, detainees were protected by both US uniform code of military justice and by the geneva conventions

Question 90

What did the USA Patriod Act give the government after being implemented after 9/11?

Answer 90

Gave government additional tools for combating terrorism, such as expanded surveillance power.

Question 91

Who was the whistleblower that exposed the NSA program that collected americans’ phone records as a means of detecting activity that might be terrorist-related by leaking the documents to the press.

Question 92

Why was the NSA program ruled unlawful, what did it violate and what was it determined not to have violated? When was it authorized by congress with limits on it such as phone data be given to telecommunications companies rather than the NSA, with the NSA having to require a warrant for them. How long did

Answer 92

DIdn’t violate the 4th amendment against unreasonable search and seizure, but because it wasn’t explicitly authorized by cogress. 2015, then 2018 for a period of 6 years