SCOTUS - constitutional rights and how effectively they are upheld Flashcards
define constitutional rights
protections and liberties guaranteed to the people via the US constitution.
varies from statutory rights, which are not guaranteed by the constitution, but is rather passed by the legislature.
1st AMENDMENT
Free Speech - CU v FEC 2010
the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 prevented any interest group making election communication within 30 days of a primary - CU challenged this act on the basis it infringed their amendment rights - they wanted to air a film critical of Clinton prior to the 2008 Dem primaries.
ruling impact = corporations have the same constitutional rights as individual Americans.
4 conservative justices PLUS swing justice Kennedy found in favour of CU.
established Super PACs - they could raise unlimited amounts for campaigning.
1st AMENDMENT
Free Speech - McCut v FEC 2014
Shane McCutcheon argued that spending caps (revised by BCRA 2002) violated his first amendment rights.
four conservative justices PLUS swing justice Kennedy found in favour of McCut v FEC 2014 and lifted the cap on the total amount that an individual could spend in an election.
limit of how much one person could contribute to an individual campaign stayed the same.
however, decision removed the limit on the no. of campaigns that could be contributed to.
liberal justices argued this created a loophole allowing a ‘single individual to contribute millions of $ to a party or to a campaign’
1st AMENDMENT
Religion - Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores Inc 2014
court ruled that a provision of Obamacare 2010 violated Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
Obamacare provision: family-owned corporations pay for health insurance coverage for contraception.
Hobby Lobby = chain of arts crafts stores run on Christian principles who argued that such methods of contraception went against their religious principles.
SCOTUS ruled 5-4 in favour of Hobby Lobby which hit Obama’s administration because it went against women’s rights.
2nd AMENDMENT
Gun control - District of Columbia v Heller 2008
McDonald v City of Chicago 2010
2008 - court declared unconstitutional a law passed by the District of Columbia in 1976 which banned the ownership of handguns and required that rifles/shotguns remain unloaded/disassembled.
majority of the court = right to keep and bear arms was an individual right.
2010 - follow-up case which declared the 2nd Amendment gives Americans fundamental rights to bear arms and that due process clause of the 14th amendment means this right cannot be infringed by local/state govt.
this meant there was an extension of federal control because state and local govt could no longer infringe on constitutional rights from the second amendment.
2nd AMENDMENT
Gun control - Caetano v Massachusetts 2016
SCOTUS unanimously reversed a Massachusetts high court decision which upheld the state’s gun ban - SCOTUS decision subsequently rendered void the conviction of a woman carrying a stun gun for self-defence.
demonstrated that SCOTUS interprets ‘arms’ by quite a large bracket = granted an extension to the amendment to include a wider array of firearms.
4th Amendment
Searches - Carpenter v US 2018
SCOTUS ruled that to acquire cell phone location data amounts to a 4th amendment search so a warrant is needed to access it.
landmark case of the digital age because SCOTUS ruled on privacy.
5-4 ruling where four liberal justices were joined by C.J John Roberts who was a swing justice.
5th AMENDMENT
Right to silence - Miranda v Arizona 1966
police officers + Miranda warning - tells them they have a right to remain silence.
Ernesto Miranda confessed to a rape unaware he had the constitutional right to remain silent and engage with an attorney before he spoke with police.
‘You have the right to remain silent…’
court ruled 5-4 that Miranda had been denied his rights -
5th AMENDMENT
Right to silence - Salinas v Texas 2013
Genevevo Salinas was questioned in a non-custodial situation by police officers (Miranda warnings were not given because they weren’t required) – he was questioned over concerns of a double murder.
he was asked whether his shotgun would match casings of shell recovered from the homicide scene where he fell silent.
the prosecutor at his trial used this silence as an admission of his guilt - case eroded legacy of Miranda case.
SCOTUS argued that using his silence as evidence of guilt did not violate the fifth amendment.
8th AMENDMENT
Capital punishment - stats of the USA
death penalty is legal in 28 states - Texas is most likely to execute offenders who have been convicted of capital crimes such as murder, crimes against humanity, and treason.
2020 - govt resumed use of death penalty for those tried and convicted under federal law and by the end of 2020, 10 executions were carried out by the US govt rather than individual states.
2020 - Texas alone did 3 executions.
8th AMENDMENT
Capital punishment - Bucklew v Precythe 2019
Russell Bucklew was convicted of murdering his ex-gf’s partner.
he argued he had a strange condition which would lead to a more painful death than usual if using a lethal injection.
Justice Gorsuch argued that 8th amendment forbids cruel punishment but it doesn’t guarantee prisoners a painless death.
dissenting opinion written by Justice Breyer argued that Bucklew presented evidence sufficient enough to deduce he would suffer excruciating pain.
regardless, Bucklew was executed in Oct 2019.
14th AMENDMENT
Women’s rights - Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation 2021
biggest case on abortion rights since 1973 Roe v Wade.
case pits leadership of Mississippi against the state’s last abortion clinic – the state wants to ban abortion after 15 weeks and asks the highest court to overturn Roe. This happened because of the 2018 Mississippi state law which banned this abortion.
decision to come out by the end of the 2021-2022 term.
14th AMENDMENT
LGBTQ+ rights - Obergefell v Hodges 2015
the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by the 14th amendment.
5-4 decision favoring the loose constructionists because of swing justice, Kennedy.
The court decided that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry.
how can SCOTUS defend the rights of one group while restricting the rights of another group?
2015 Obergefell v Hodges saw the rights of LGBTQ+ community upheld but the religious rights of Kim Davis, who argued that she didn’t want to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because it violated her religious beliefs, argued that her rights were infringed.
she was briefly jailed for this by the district court in Kentucky.
however, Burwell v Hobby Lobby outlines religious rights being upheld at the stake of LGBTQ+ rights.
what problems occur because SCOTUS cannot enforce its own rulings?
relies on exec and legislative to enforce decisions.
SCOTUS is bound by the constitution and its wording e.g., Snyder v Phelps - it was incredibly difficult for the Court to rule because the Westboro Baptist Church was insensitive in their picketing but were protected by the rights of freedom of expression from within the constitution.
