Notes Sept 3 2013 Exam everything in syllabus from 1st day to next Tuesday s lecture Ch 1 5 Federalist 51 Constitution amendments Reader 1 4 9 10 all news articles posted reading Focus on anything that has been really emphasized lots of attention given to something in particular look for things that are in both readings and in class try to avoid picky details Essay Thursday Sept 12 in lecture Multiple choice Short Answer Monday Sept 16 in breakout Multiple Choice 25 questions 2 points each almost all are both in reading and in class Short answer answered in a paragraph or two come from break out Essay get 3 ahead of time pick 1 from 2 choices 50 minutes for a 30 point essay Tips will be posted on ELC on how to write this essay Explain as if the reader already doesn t know so you let them know that you know about it Whatever you say back it up give examples maybe Constitution or Supreme Court rulings BRING 3 LARGE GREEN BLUE BOOKS TO TA BY NEXT MONDAY NO TRICK QUESTIONS Notes Cont d from Thurs Aug 29 Texas Abortion has to be legal according to Constitution Roe look at 4th amendment gov t can t interfere with what you do with your own body Medical evidence said that the fetus cannot survive outside of woman s body until about 6 months into the pregnancy after that it is viable able to live outside of womb if necessary During the 3rd trimester the fetus is a person and thus has rights abortion unconstitutional during the third trimester except to save the life of the mother During 1st 2nd trimester fetus is part of woman s body and is not yet a person woman s rights prevails State can regulate this decision but cannot prohibit Court is more conservative now than it was in 1973 Supreme Court stare decisis let the decision stand rarely goes back on its decision Bowers vs Hardwick 1986 Atlanta police came to Hardwick s house with subpoena for public drunkenness Hardwick was found with another man GA s law very strict against anal or oral sex between anyone is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison US Supreme Court said that is constitutional because sex is for procreation only in 1998 GA supreme court saw similar case and said that this law violates the GA constitution Supreme Court changed its mind and said that all anti sodomy laws are unconstitutional Amendment 9 The Rights Retained by the People Just because these rights aren t written down doesn t mean you don t have these rights Civil Rights Equality Civil rights about equality Civil liberties unalienable rights of citizens Slavery was not addressed in the original constitution by the founders except for 1 clause that doesn t state whether it is unconstitutional or not 1850s several movements created about slavery thought if they went to Supreme Court then they would rule that slavery was unconstitutional Dredscott vs Sanford 1857 Dredscott was a slave in the south his master died and left in his will that the slave goes to my relative Dr Sanford Sanford is up North and opposes slavery Sanford found Dredscott and freed him one of the movements went to them and helped them make a case the two of them traveled together as free men and went back to the south now that they are in the slave states Dredscott is now a slave again according to plan they fought and went to court US Supreme Court said that Dredscott cannot sue in court because he is black so he is not a citizen he is slave by nature and they re better off that way led to the Civil War this was opposed later by 3 amendments 13 14 15 13 outlawed slavery 15 right of citizens to vote shall not be abridged on account of race color or previous condition of servitude 14 all persons born or naturalized in US are citizens of US and of the state where you reside no state shall make laws that abridge rights of these citizens no state shall deprive any person of life liberty and property without due process of law nor shall any state deprive any person of equal protection of the law the main place where equality is found in constitution not specific about women and native Americans at that time mostly men Equal protection law all people shall be treated equally Civil Rights Act of 1865 75 try to get states from getting around these amendments o Supreme Court overturned several of these acts States found ways to discourage or prohibit blacks from voting o White Primary primary votes for white people only whoever won this election will win the election back then o Grandfather clause can t vote unless you re grandfather could vote o Poll tax discriminated against poor blacks and whites o Literacy tests whites given easy books blacks given hard books in weird languages 14th amendment supposed to give equal protection 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson Plessy lived in Louisiana he was 7 8 white he looked very white but people knew he had one great grandparent that was black just one drop of black blood and you re black front of train was white and back of the train was colored section Plessy sat in white section arrested tried and put in jail Supreme Court said that was constitutional to separate the races as long as they are treated equally separate but equal is constitutional didn t really care about the equal part 60 years later Supreme Court changes its decisions o Brown vs Board decision little girl Brown wanted to go to all white school 4 blocks away instead of the all black school all the way across town Supreme Court said we were wrong 60 years ago separate is inherently illegal and unequal this decision had to do with schools but eventually they did integrate other laws were later made for every other place to be integrated o 1955 Rosa Parks didn t wanted to sit in black section of bus led to year long boycott which was led by MLK Jr tactic nonviolent civil disobedience o o o People in the north saw these nonviolent blacks being beaten by police Congress passed Civil rights act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public schools jobs voting Voting rights act of 1965 any state that has a history of voting discrimination must submit their voting plan OK d by department of justice