POLS 206 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Federalism Outline of Current Lecture II Civil Liberties III Constitutional Liberties IV What is in the Bill of Rights V Amendments the 14th Amendment VI Elaborations and qualifications of the First Amendment a Freedom of Religion b Freedom of Speech Expression Current Lecture l What are Civil Liberties rights the government gives and can take away lately quite frequently This is NOT the same as civil rights which are rights every person is naturally born with and can not be taken away ll Constitutional Liberties specified rights from the original Constitution a Guarantee of Habeas Corpus everyone has protection to be charged before being held brought before a judged and explained why they are being charged b No bills of attainder no one can be punished in court with out a trial by jury c No ex post facto laws Congress can not charge someone with a crime if they did the crime while it was legal lll What is in the Bill of Rights Originally it s major purpose was a barring against the Federal government so it did not really have to do with State Government a 1st restricts Congress freedom of speech press religion petition b 2nd 3rd 4th restricts the Executive branch right to bear arms limits on search and seizure most of time must need a warrant c 5th 6th 7th 8th restricts the Courts right to due process and fair trials d 9th and 10th restricts the National Government rights are reserved lv Amendments 14th Amendment proved the State Government can not take away liberties just like the Federal Government a Essentially there are two clauses with civil liberties due process anytime life or liberties are taken away there is a trial and equal protection for everyone b This was significantly proven in incorporation in two court cases i Chicago Burlington Quincy Railroad Co v City of Chicago 1897 Chicago tried to take some of the railroad company s land for city use but there was no trial about it since private property is one of the liberties and so the Railroad fought against it This was the first case dealing with this kind of problem with the State Government ii Gitlow v New York 1925 Gitlow advertised for a violent overthrow of the government and the government said that is against the law wanted to change his speech They go to court Gitlow arguing for freedom of the press It ends up being a win lose for both opponents Court says the state does not have the right to change his speech because that would be violating his right to freedom of speech However Gitlow cannot advertise active violence against the government because violence affects peoples and someone could get hurt and part of the government s job is to protect people s health Gitlow would be violating that V Elaborations and qualifications of the First Amendment a Freedom of Religion i In 1787 9 of 13 Colonies had official state religions legal at that time because the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government not the State Government ii Jefferson preferred Separation of Church and State but that is now where in the Bill of Rights though a lot of court cases use that idea iii In the First Amendment it says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion meaning Congress can not make laws that seem to favor one religion over another iv Establishment Clause Everson v Board of Education 1947 a debate about whether letting children take a public school to their private religious school but decided it was about protecting the kids very difficult to say whether the law is favoring one religion over another Engel v Vitale 1962 State can not force kids to pray to a religion they do not believe in school for it is a violation of the First Amendment right They have moments of silence now v Aid to Parochial schools Lemon v Kurtzman 1971 Three part test 1 purpose must be nonreligious 2 cannot be to advance or inhibit religion it is to purely help the kids education 3 must avoid excessive government entanglement the government can not just come in to monitor to make sure they are using the aid appropriately vi Free Exercise Clause belief and practice are different Reynolds v U S 1878 there can be no official language of a state religious practices and the workplace Title Vll of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 businesses will try to accommodate you but not if it hurts business b Freedom of Speech Expression i Early restrictions on expression 1917 Espionage Act Schenck v United States 1919 ii Clear and Present Danger Test essentially if speech affects other health your freedom of speech is then limited This is the first time that tests freedom of speech iii Dennis v United States 1951 Seditious speech and meetings of the Communist Party is that legal They were peaceful meetings but the United States was scared of Communists then and so was considered not legal iv Brandenburg v Ohio 1969 KKK meeting and promotion of violence it was expression there s not really going to be violence Imminent Lawless Action they are wrong the only time speech is not protected is when you advocate violence unless you are in a peaceful location like a classroom Preferred Position Doctrine Democratic Essentials so necessary that any attempt to limit is considered unconstitutional until proven otherwise v What about Symbolic Speech Texas v Johnson a guy protested against the Government by burning a flag and the police arrested him Speech is not just talking
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