POLS 2311 1st Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture I. Article IV, Section 3II. Article IV, Section 4III. Article V Proposal IV. Article V Ratification V. Article VI Outline of Current Lecture I. Article VI II. Section 3III. Article VII IV. Bill of Rights V. 1st Amendment VI. Preferred Position Doctrine Current LectureI. Article VI - Section 1: o Debts before the Constitution are valid after. - Section 2:o Supremacy clause. o Someone had to be the quarterback and call the plays. So we created the Nation government to call the plays. o The National Government is supreme over everything. Nothing can conflict with the Constitution. o Bills passed by the congress or president comes next. o Then treaties. Treaties for peace, trade, and other things can only go into effect when both parties sign and agree to the compromise. o A line from the Constitution is the Supreme Court. Their role is to be the final interpreter of the law. o The Constitution is very general and vague. It allows the Court to decide the outcome. They are like the NFL referees. They have to make a quick right decision. If it’s not right then someone can come in and make them review it like on instant replay. These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.o When you have a specific law you decrease the power of the courts. If you havea very vague law you have a bunch of people with different views that come together to make a decision, which is law. Theses laws and mechanisms are supreme over everything. II. Section 3- “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the severalState Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States andof the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” State and federal officials, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, must take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. o “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”- No religious test can be required as a qualification to any government office. o This was bothersome to states. So Mississippi passed a law that in order to get a job you have to take a test. This law did not make it because of the Supremacy Law and in the Constitution it says you cant do that. III. Article VII- Established the method of ratify the original 7 articles. 9 of the 13 states were requiredto ratify by conventions. o New Hampshire, the 9th state, ratified 6/21/1788. But was signed officially 9/17/1788.o They didn’t want to ratify because they wanted certain rights put in the Constitution in order to protect them. Others thought this was to much and would stop it from being ratified at all so they promised that as soon as it got ratified and the representatives got into office they would draw up some articles and give them the rights they wanted. - When did our government begin to work? o Elections held Jan/Feb 1789; began 1st session of Congress in April 1789 and President Washington inaugurated April 30, 1789 and is beginning of the United States of America. o No one wanted to run against Washington. All the white males that owned property went to the polls and voted, which made them happy because they never had this right before. IV. Bill of Rights - Articles 1-7 ratified when New Hampshire, the 9th state, ratified 6/21/1788- Bill of Rights proposed 91789 and ratified 12/15/1791.o Rights begin with “Congress shall make no law…” Meant that the Framers intended only to limit the power of the federal government. Rights did not apply to the States and federal government could not restrict state laws that limit the Bill of Rights. (Baron v. Baltimore 1833). States free to restrict liberties as saw fit. o When they want a law to pass they don’t put a deadline on it or restrictions. When they don’t’ want it to pass such as the women’s rights amendment they put a 7 year deadline on it and at the end of that 7 years they were two states away from getting it ratified. o It only restricts Federal power it does not restrict States. We gave the quarterback/Congress the power so now they can hurt us, which is why at the beginning of the Bill of Rights we state what the Congress cannot do! The States can do whatever they want. o Know the Baron v. Baltimore case. o Know the speed of when it’s going to be ratified. ***Bill of rights proposed 9/1789 and ratified 12/15/1791V. 1st Amendment- 1st 10 amendments needed to protect us from abuse of federal government power. o “Congress shall make no law respecting establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition te gov’t for redress of grievances.” - Seems to protect against any lawo Can one justify murder in the name of religion? o Ruin another’s reputation with lies? You have the right to offend someone but not the right to harm someone. - 1st Amendment Rights not absolute, but majestic generalities. We must make laws to protect innocent against great harms. VI. Preferred Position Doctrine- 1st Amendment rights are higher rights than any other rights in the Constitution. - When law that regulates non 1st Amendment rights (such as the 2nd) taken to court… The court presumes the law is constitutional (legal). - When any law that regulates 1st Amendment rights is taken to court… it presumes the law unconstitutional…