Chapter 15 & 16

A.P. Government

Chapter 15
Civil Liberties

 Discrimination:
Is action(s) that denies social participation or human rights to categories of people based
on prejudice. This includes treatment of an individual or group based on their actual or perceived
membership in a certain group or social category.
Prejudice: is prejudgment, or forming an opinion before becoming aware of the relevant facts. The word is often used to refer to preconceived,
usually unfavorable, judgments toward people or a person because of gender, political opinion, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality,
race/ethnicity, language, nationality, or other characteristics.

Civil Liberties:
are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial
interpretation.

Civil Rights:
Involves the rights guaranteed to United States citizens and residents by legislation and by the United
States Constitution.

Whats the Difference?

Civil Liberties
concern basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed -either explicitly identified in the Bill of Rights and the
Constitution, or interpreted through the years by courts and
lawmakers. Civil liberties include:
Freedom of speech
The right to privacy
The right to be free from unreasonable searches of your home
The right to a fair court trial
The right to marry
The right to vote

Civil Rights

has traditionally revolved around the

basic right to be free from unequal
treatment based on certain protected
characteristics (race, gender, disability,
etc.) in settings such as employment
and housing.

Civil Liberties: Rights in the Original Constitution

1. Writ of Habeas Corpus: a court order requiring explanation to a judge why a
prisoner is being held in custody.
2. No bill of attainder.
3. No ex post facto laws: a retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of a
person.
4. No titles of nobility.
5. Trial by jury in national courts.

Civil Liberties: Rights in the Original Constitution

6. Protection for citizens as they move from one state to another, including the right to travel.

7.

Protection against using the crime of treason to restrict other activities; limitation on
punishment for treason.

8. Guarantee that each state has a republican form of government.

9. No religious test oaths as a condition for holding a federal office.
10. Protection against the impairment of contracts.

Civil Liberties: 1st Amendment Freedoms

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof.
This contains the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

Free Speech and Free People:

In discussing the constitutional power of the government to regulate speech, we distinguish
between: Belief, action, and speech.
Believe as we wish.
Action; which the government may restrain
Speech, isnt an absolute right but it also isnt completely restrained by the government. However, some
speech is retrained such as: libel, obscenity, fighting words, and commercial speech.

Civil Liberties: 1st Amendment Freedoms

Protected Speech
Prior Restraint

Unprotected Speech

Falls into four categories

Content Neutral

Libel (New York v. Sullivan)

Viewpoint Neutral

Obscenity/Pornography (Miller v.
California, 1973)

Protected from legal consequences

Fighting Words (Hate Speech)

Typically ideas, thoughts, or

expressions.

Commercial Speech (44 Liquor mart, Inc.

v. Rhode Island)

Civil Liberties: 1st Amendment Freedoms

Freedom of the Press

Radio, Television, Newspapers, Magazines, and the Internet.

Freedom of Assembly
Time, place, and manner regulations.

Property Rights
Eminent domain: the power of a government to take private property for public use.
Regulatory takings: governmental regulation that takes away the use of private land
by restricting its use.

Civil Liberties: Due Process

Due Process: established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.
Procedural due process: how a law is applied.
7 Liberties that due Process protects:
1. Any common occupation of life.
2. To acquire useful knowledge.
3. To Marry.
4. To establish a home.
5. Raise children.
6. Worship.
7. Pursuit of Happiness.

Substantive due process: limits what the government can do.

. This kind of due process especially protects the privacy rights of individuals.

Civil Liberties: Privacy Rights

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
In this case the Supreme Court pulled together elements of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, & 14th
Amendments recognizing that personal privacy is a Constitutional right.
The Right has three aspects:
1. To be free from Government surveillance and intrusion.
2. The Government not to make private affairs public.
3. The right to be free in thought and belief from government regulations.

The right to privacy has two controversial issues:

1. State regulation of abortion.
2. Private, adult sexual conduct.

Civil Liberties: Privacy Rights

State regulation of abortion

Private, adult sexual conduct

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

1. 1st trimester, unconstitutional to interfere

with a women's liberty and privacy rights.
2. 2nd trimester, protect the womens health,
state may make regulations about how,
when, and where abortions can occur.
3. 3rd trimester, state protects the unborn child,
can prohibit abortions altogether, except to
protect the mothers life.

Planned parenthood v. Casey (1992)

. Reaffirmed Roe v. Wade.
. A womens liberty to choose abortion prior to
viability.
. Threw out the trimester framework and states
can make reasonable regulations.

1. The Court ruled to refuse protection to

private relations between homosexuals.
2. It also upheld that the Boy Scouts of
America may exclude homosexuals.

Romer v. Evans (1996)

. The Court struck down an amending to
Colorados constitution to prohibit state
and local government from protecting
homosexual discrimination.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

. The Court struck down Texass law
making homosexual sodomy a crime.

Civil Liberties: Rights of Criminal SUSPECTS

4th Amendment:
This Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
This requires that a search warrant must be obtained by the police.
The 4th Amendment protects people not places.

Terry v. Ohio (1968)

A stop and frisk exception to the warrant requirement.
Limited to a quick pat-down to check for weapons, and contraband, determine identity, maintain the status
quo.

Congress created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

Review requests for warrantless wiretaps.
Consists of Federal district judges and meets in secret.
USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, expanded the court, lowered the requirement for warrants involving
terrorism, and permits searches for foreign intelligence and evidence of terriorist activities.

Civil Liberties: Rights of Criminal SUSPECTS

Exclusionary Clause: a requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally
obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.
Before the development of the exclusionary clause , evidence could be used at trial
even if it violated the 4th Amendment.
In 1911 the exclusionary clause was applied to federal courts.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

This applied the exclusionary clause to the states.

The Right to remain silent

Provided by the 5th Amendment

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

The Miranda Warning

Civil Liberties: Rights of Criminal SUSPECTS

Right to a Fair Trial
Provided by the 6th Amendment
Fair Trial Procedures:

Death Penalty:
Upheld by the 8th Amendment, if the crime resulted in a victims death.
Courts cant execute the mentally challenged, as they cannot understand the seriousness of
their crime.
Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), upheld that a criminal convicted of child rape where a death
didnt occur, nor intended, couldnt be sentenced to death.

Who protects our Civil Liberties?

The Courts
Active and educated citizens

Chapter 16

Civil Rights

What is Civil Rights again?

Civil Rights has traditionally revolved around the basic right to be free from unequal
treatment based on certain protected characteristics (race, gender, disability, etc.) in
settings such as employment and housing, etc..

Equality and Equal Rights:

Everyone should have equal opportunity regardless of race, ethnic origin, religion, etc..
In recent decades focus has shifted to equality between groups.
They champion programs such as Affirmative Action
Affirmative action: designed to provide opportunities for those who have been disadvantage because
they belong to a certain group.

Citizenship Rights
Natural rights dont depend on citizenship, but important legal rights do come with citizenship.
Before 1868, when the 14th Amendment was adopted, the constitution didnt protect the basic
citizenship rights; it was left up to the states.
In order to receive citizenship rights within the United States you must be born or naturalized.
Naturalized requirements:
1. Be over the age of 18.
2. Be lawfully admitted for permanent residence, and reside for at least 5 years, and the state within 6
months.
3. File a petition for naturalization, verified by two witness.
4. Be able to read, speak, and write English.
5. Possess a good moral character.
6. Understand and demonstrate the history, principles, and form of government of the United States.
7. Demonstrate that they are toward the good order and happiness of the country.
8. No support, belief in, belonged to, advocated for, any organization that wants to overthrow the United
States Government by violence, the doctrine of Communism, or totalitarianism.

Rights of U.S. citizens and Aliens

U.S. Citizens:
An individual becomes a citizen by residing in one of the states (or territories).
Residence, explained from the 14th Amendment means that the place a person calls home.
Most of the important citizenship rights flow from the State.

Slaughter-House cases (1873), the Supreme Court distinguished between Federal and State
citizenship rights.
Boumediene v. Bush (2008), reinforced the right of designated U.S. citizen enemy detainee
combatants have the right to appeal their detention in the federal courts.

Alien rights:
Enemy Alien Act of 1798, authorizes the president during wartime to detain and expel citizens
of an enemy country; this remains in effect to this day.
Congress and States may limit welfare and other benefits.
Prohibits employment as Police officers, schoolteachers, and probation officers.
Children cannot be prohibited from attending school, or charged tuition.

Quest for Equality

Racial Equality:

Civil War (1861-1865)

Resulting in the 13th (1865), 14th (1868), & the 15th (1870) Amendments to the Constitution.
13th Amendment: Abolished slavery, & involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
14th Amendment: Defines Citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause,
the Equal Protection Clause.
15th Amendment: Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.

Reconstruction:
Ended in 1877, the white southern political leadership regained power.
Jim Crow laws established.

World War I (1914-1918):

Many African-Americans migrated to the North in search of employment.

The 1920s to World War II:

The Great Depression and WWII accelerated African-Americans migration to the North.

The opportunities found created a n African-American middle-class that would soon oppose segregation.

The Turning Point

On December 1st, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat to a white man on the bus, as law required. Rosa Parks was removed from the
bus, arrested, and fined.
The African-American community responded by boycotting city buses.
The boycott worked and a charismatic national Civil Rights leader was born, Rev. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
King lead the Civil Rights movement through his doctrine of nonviolent resistance.
In 1964, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, was passed.

The Riots and Reaction

Watts riot of 1965.
Detroit riots of 1967.
Because of the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal the nations attention was
towards those issues instead of the issue of civil rights.
Jesse Jackson still pushes for equality through boycotts and lawsuits.
In 2008, Senator Barrack Obama was elected President of the United States of
America, becoming the first of African decent to hold the office.
He was elected to a second term in 2012.

Government response:
Major Civil Rights Laws:

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), prohibits racially segregated public schools.
Civil Rights Act of 1957, makes it a crime to prevent persons from voting in federal elections.
Civil Rights Act of 1964, bans discrimination in employment or in public accommodations on the basis or race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin, created the EEOC.
Voting Rights Act of 1965, authorizes the appointment of federal examiners to register voters in areas with a history of discrimination.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, prohibits job discrimination against workers or job applicants aged 40 through 65 and
prohibits mandatory retirement.
Fair Housing Act of 1968, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin in the sale or rental of most
housing.
Title IX Education Amendment of 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program receiving federal financial
assistance.
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, requires that recipients of federal grants greater than $2,500 hire and promote qualified handicapped
individuals.
Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988, gave the Department of Housing and Urban Development authority to prohibit housing bias
against the handicapped and families with children.
American with Disabilities Act of 1990, prohibits discrimination based on disability and requires that facilities be made accessible to
those with disabilities.
Civil Rights Act of 1991, requires that employers justify practices that negatively affect the working conditions of women and minorities
or show that no alternative practices would have a lesser impact. Also established a commission to examine what keeps women and
minorities from becoming executives and to recommend how to increase the number of women and minorities in management.

Womens Rights
The Seneca Falls Womens Rights Convention (1848), attracted men and
women for both women's rights and to abolish slavery.
The Civil war put womens rights on hold.
After the Civil War the temperance movement gained strength.

By the 20th Century, a strong campaign for womens suffrage began.

Wyoming lead the way as a territory giving women the right to vote in 1869. It then
became a state in 1890, being the first state to give women the right to vote.

Suffragists were unsatisfied with the state-by-state approach and

lobbied for a Constitutional Amendment.
In 1919 Congress proposed the 19th Amendment, it was ratified in 1920, giving
women the right to vote.
Many Sothern's opposed the enforcement power, as they were afraid that it would call
attention to their violation of laws towards African-Americans.

Womens Rights Continued

After the passage of the 19th Amendment women were still denied equal pay and
rights.
Through the 1970s and 1980s the womens movement focused on Equal Rights.
Through the 1980s The Supreme Court has been reluctant to expand the 14 th
Amendment towards womens rights.
1964 Civil Rights Act.
In 1986, the Court applied the act to quid pro quo.

Hispanics Rights
Have experienced the same kind of discrimination as African-Americans in
employment, education, housing, and access to public accommodations.

During World War II this discrimination lead to the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles,
California.

Asian Americans Rights

Chinese:
The first Asians to come to the U.S. beginning in 1847.
They worked on the railroads, in the mines, and on farms.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Repealed in 1943.

Japanese:
Came first to Hawaii in the 1860s, then California in the 1880s.
In 1905, white labor leaders organized the Japanese and Korean Exclusion league.
In 1906, San Francisco, excluded all students of Asian dissent from public schools.
World War II Interment camps.

Other Asian Americans:

Koreans, Philippines, and other Asian ethnicities faced similar discrimination as the Chinese
and Japanese did.

Native Americans Rights

Almost half live on Reservations.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830, resulted in the Trial of Tears.
Students living on Reservations were sent to boarding school to be taught
mainstream values.
In 1952 the Urban Relocation Program was developed to get Natives off Reservations.
The American Indian Movement, protested discrimination in housing, employment,
and health care.

Civil Rights Today

Trayvon Martin
Gay Rights
Voting Rights
Equality Accommodations
Education Rights
Ferguson

Integration
The Affirmative Action Controversy