Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights Flashcards
What are Civil Liberties?
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.
_______ ________ 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.
Civil Rights; civil liberties
What is the Bill of Rights in the Constitution?
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.
What type of government did the Bill of Rights originally only apply to?
The federal government, the state governments didn’t have to follow it
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?
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
What did the Supreme court rule in the Gitlow v. New York case?
That states didn’t have total control over what their residents could legally say
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?
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.
What is the doctrine of selective incorporation?
The use of the 14th amendment to apply selected provisions of the bill of rights to the states.
How was the doctrine of selective incorporation applied to the Mapp v. Ohio case?
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.
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?
1960s
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.
True
What freedom does the 1st amendment provide?
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.
What forms of speech are not protected by the first amendment?
Examples?
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
What act was passed in which Congress ignored the first amendment?
What did the Act do and who opposed it?
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.
In what circumstances can free expression be denied?
When it endangers national security, wrongly damages someone elses reputation of others, deprives others of their basic rights
What does the first amendment’s freedom of speech part say you can’t say?
Anything obscene, slanderous, or has high probability of inciting others to make imminent lawless choices
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?
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
In the 1st amendment’s freedom of assembly part, what can government regulate?
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.
For the first amendment’s freedom of press, in what circumstances does it say you are free to write or publich almost anything?
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.
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?
The 1917 Espionage Act
What legislation became the subject of the 1st supreme court free-expression ruling in Schenck v. United States (1919)?
The 1917 Espionage act
What were the defendents convictions that were upheld by the supreme court in the Schenck v. United States?
The defendants were convicted of distributing leaflets urging draft-age men to refuse induction into the military service
Which Justice in the Schenck v. United States case wrote for a unanimous court upholding the constitutionality of the Espionage act?
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
What constitutional standard did the Schenck v. United States case establish despite the unholding of the Espionage act which limited free expression?
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
What defining case marked the actions of the Supreme court protecting speech from the actions of the states?
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
Who was Clarence Brandenburg in the Brandenberg v. Ohio case 1969 and what was he convicted of?
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.
What did the supreme court rule in the Brandenburg v. Ohio case (1969)?
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
What is imminent lawless action?
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
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.
True
How did the Supreme court vote in the Wisconsin law that allowed lengthier sentences for hate crimes?
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.”
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?
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
What is symbolic speech?
Example?
Actions for the purpose of expressing a political opinion
Ex: Waving or burning of a flag
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?
The supreme court rejected texas’s argument, stating that government can’t prohibit expression simply because someone finds it effensive.
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?
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
What was a key case in 1977 regarding the freedom of assembly of American Nazi Party in Skokie, Illinois?
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.
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?
Yes
