US Constitution Flashcards
What are the 4 features of the nature of the constitution?
Codified
Entrenched
Judiciable
Revolutionary
How many amendments are there?
27
What is the aim of the constitution?
To create a government with enough power to act on a national level but not enough to put fundamental rights at risk
History - what happened in 1781?
- political powers given to each state
- federal government emerges
- both state and federal equally important
What are the 2 chambers of Congress?
The House of Representatives
The Senate
What caused Congress to be split into separate houses?
Larger population states wanted Congress to be proportional by population (Representatives)
Smaller population states wanted Congress to be equal state representation (Senate)
What is the Three Fifths Compromise
- States couldn’t decide on how to count slaves in the population for voting purposes
- decided slaves were to be worth 3/5 of a person
What is the Bill of Rights?
The first 10 amendments
What is the 1st amendment? (w/example)
Freedom of Speech
e.g. Snyder v Phelps 2011 - SC ruled in favour of Westboro Baptist Church’s right to protest outside of military funerals
What is the 2nd amendment? (w/example)
Right to bear arms
e.g. Court in District of Colombia v Heller 2008 - found that Colombia’s handgun ban and requirement of rifles and shotguns to be kept unloaded and disassembled violated the 2nd amendment due to self defence purposes
What is the 3rd amendment? (w/example)
Forbids the forcible housing of military without the homeowner’s consent
e.g. Engblom v Carey 1982 - national guardsmen considered soldiers therefore broke the amendment when they were housed during a strike
This was also first time the 3rd amendment was interpreted! (interpreted homeownership as the general control over access to a property)
What is the 4th amendment? (w/examples)
Unreasonable search and seizures
e.g. Carpenter v United States - found that the government’s access to cell site location information (CSLI) without a search warrant violates this
What is the 5th amendment? (w/example)
right to remain silent
e.g. Miranda v Arizona 1966 - anyone in police custody must be told their right to remain silent and their right to consult with their lawyer
What is the 6th amendment? (w/examples)
Right to a fair trial
e.g. Batson v Kentucky 1986 - jurors cannot be dismissed based solely on race
e.g. Gideon v Wainwright 1963 - states required to provide attorneys to those who cannot afford one - extension of 5th and 6th
What is the 7th amendment?
Right to a jury trial
What is the 8th amendment? (w/example)
Cruel and unusual punishment
e.g. Hope v Relzer 2002 - Hope was handcuffed to a hitching post by guards for 7 hours, forcibly removed his shirt so he would burn in the sun, received water once/twice, was taunted by letting dogs drink before him then spilling the water on the ground in front of him - Courts ruled that it was a cruel and unusual punishment in the 20th C and allowed Hope to sue the guards but the case was dismissed
What is the 9th amendment? (w/example)
Citizens have rights which have not been enumerated in the Constitution
e.g. Griswold v. Connecticut 1965 - SC agreed the banning of contraceptives for married couples was a violation of their ‘marital rights’
What is the 10th amendment? (w/example)
Rights which aren’t specifically given to the federal government are reserved for states of the people
e.g. Reno v Condon 2000 - the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 removed states’ rights to sell private information from DMVs (i.e. social security, medical information, address, phone number) which was becoming an issue with private businesses and human trafficking concerns - court ruled that this was within the rights of Congress under the Commerce Clause
Why is there little change to the constitution?
- Founding Fathers made it purposefully difficult to change (i.e. supermajorities)
- it is deliberately vague (formal change is unnecessary, it can evolve)
- SC has judicial review
- people are cautious about change (i.e. the alcohol prohibition in 1919 (18th amendment) which was repealed in 1933, leaving some ‘dry states’ (21st amendment)
What are enumerated powers?
Powers explicitly stated in the Constitution
e.g. Article 1, Section 8 lists all the congressional powers
What are implied powers?
Powers not written in the Constitution, but are needed to carry out enumerated powers
e.g. enumerated power is that Congress can raise an army/navy, but the implied power is that they can therefore draft people
What is the Elastic Clause?
Congress can over-stretch their powers
wrote in Article 1, Section 8
Pros of the Elastic Clause
✔ power to pass laws more easily
✔ can carry out their enumerated powers
Cons of the Elastic Clause
✘ controversial
✘ subjective
What are reserved powers?
Certain rights are reserved for states/people
e.g. Collector v Day 1871 - Day questioned if Congress had the power to tax states and state officials - SC ruled this is one of their reserved powers
this was overruled because of O’Keefe v. New York 1939 - ruled New York had the authority to levy a non-discriminatory income tax on a federal employee who resided in the state
What are concurrent powers?
Powers shared by Federal government and states
e.g. taxing, courts, roads etc
What is the Supremacy Clause?
Legitimate national law supercedes conflicting state law
e.g. Copper v Allan 1968 - SC rejects attempts by Arkansas to nullify the SC’s decision to desegregate schools - Arkansas was acting based on state rights but Supremacy Clause overruled
How is the Constitution phrased?
Specificity
- sometimes very specific
e.g. Article 1 - ‘power to collect taxes’
Vagueness
- sometimes very vague to allow for interpretation
e.g. Article 1 - power of Congress to ‘provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States’
✔ can allow the Constitution to reflect modern society
✘ SC can become too powerful through biased interpretation - e.g. Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment in 2018 - overturned Roe v Wade
