Nationlizing the bill of rights

do reminaining amendments outside of first one place limitations

on state or national govs?
Dual citizenship
each American was a citizen of the national governmennt
seperately a citizen of one of the states
slavery could technically still continue because the

bill of rights did not apply to decisions or procedures at state or local gov
The 14th amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the US and subject to the
jurisdiction therof, are citizens of the US and of the state wherin they reside

Civil liberties are protections from improper government action. Some of these

restraints are substantive liberties, which put limits on what the government shall and shall not have power
to do. Other restraints are procedural liberties, which deal with how the government is supposed to act. Civil
liberties require a delicate balance between governmental power and governmental restraint.

provised for single national citizenship and at a

mininmum that means civil liberties should not vary drastically from state
to state

spirit of the 14th amendment is to nationalize the

bill of rights by nationalizing the definition of citizenship

no state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privaledges or immunities of citizens of the US; nor shall any
state deprice any person of life, liberty or property without due process of
law

COURT was unwilling to natinoalize

civil liberties-that is to interprt the civil liberties expressed in the bill

of rights as imposing limitations not only on the fed government
but aso on the states

Civil rights did not become part of the

Constitution until 1868 with the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, which sought
to provide for each citizen the equal protection of the laws.

In 1833, the Supreme Court found that the Bill

of Rights limited only the national government and not state governments.

Although the language of the Fourteenth

Amendment seems to indicate that the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state
governments as well as the national government, for the remainder of the nineteenth
century the Supreme Court (with only one exception) made decisions as if the
Fourteenth Amendment had never been adopted.

the power of public agencies to

seize private property is called eminent domain

The Constutional Revolution in Civil Liberties

strict scrutiny: the most stringent standard of judicial review of a

governments actions in which the government must show that the law serves a
compellin state interest
constitional revolution incivil liberties was a movement toward

nationalization
miranda rule: reading person rights
The Bill of Rights Today
1st amendment:
1st clause establishment clause

The establishment clause of the First Amendment has

been interpreted in several ways, one being the strict separation of church and state.
But there is significant disagreement about how high that wall is and of what
materials it is composed.
The Supreme Courts test from Lemon v. Kurtzmann
determined that government aid to religious schools would be accepted as
constitutional if (1) it had a secular purpose, (2) its effect was neither to advance nor
to inhibit religion, and (3) it did not entangle government and religious institutions
in each others affairs.

(LEMON TEST)
The free exercise clause protects the right to believe and

to practice whatever religion one chooses; it also involves protection of the right to
be a nonbeliever. The Supreme Court has taken pains to distinguish between
religious beliefs and actions based on those beliefs.
The establishment clause of the First Amendment has been interpreted in
several ways, one being the strict separation of church and state. But there is significant
disagreement about how high that wall is and of what materials it is composed.
The Supreme Courts test from Lemon v. Kurtzmann determined that
government aid to religious schools would be accepted as constitutional if (1) it had a secular
purpose, (2) its effect was neither to advance nor to inhibit religion, and (3) it did not
entangle government and religious institutions in each others affairs.
The free exercise clause protects the right to believe and to practice
whatever religion one chooses; it also involves protection of the right to be a nonbeliever. The
Supreme Court has taken pains to distinguish between religious beliefs and actions based on
those beliefs.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE PRESS

1.

Freedom of speech and the press have a special place in American political thought.

Democracy depends on the ability of individuals to talk to each other and to disseminate
information and ideas.
2.
Although freedom of speech and freedom of the press hold an important place in the
Bill of Rights, the extent and nature of certain types of expression are subject to constitutional
debate.
3.
Among the forms of speech that are absolutely protected are the truth, political
speech, symbolic speech, and speech plus, which is speech plus a physical activity such as

picketing. The forms of speech that are currently only conditionally protected include libel
and slander; obscenity and pornography; fighting words; and commercial speech.

THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

1.

In constitutional terms, the Second Amendment unquestionably protects citizens

rights to bear arms, but this right can be regulated by both state and federal law.
2.
In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down a District of Columbia law that was
designed to make it nearly impossible for private individuals to legally purchase firearms. The
Court declared in the Heller case that the Second Amendment protects an individuals right to
possess a firearm for private use.
3.
In June 2010, the Supreme Court incorporated the Second Amendment and applied
it to the states when it announced its verdicts in the cases of McDonald v. Chicago and NRA v.
Chicago. The Court declared that the right to keep and bear arms was protected from state as
well as federal action.
4.
The precise scope of the Second Amendment's protection remains to be determined
in subsequent cases.

RIGHTS OF THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED

1.

The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments, taken together, are the essence of

the due process of law, the right of every citizen against arbitrary action by national or state
governments.
2.
The purpose of due process is to equalize the playing field between the accused
individual and the all-powerful state. Due process helps define the limits of government
action against the personal liberty of every citizen.
3.
One of Americas traditional and most strongly held juridical values is that it is far
worse to convict an innocent man than to let a guilty man go free.
4.
The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. One of
the most important procedures that has grown out of the Supreme Courts interpretation of
the Fourth Amendment is the exclusionary rule, which prohibits evidence obtained during an
illegal search from being introduced in a trial.
5.
The Fifth Amendment requires a grand jury for most crimes, protects against double
jeopardy, and provides that you cannot be forced to testify against yourself.
6.
The other fundamental clause of the Fifth Amendment is the takings clause, which
extends to each citizen a protection against the taking of private property without just
compensation. The purpose of the takings clause is to put limits on the power of eminent
domain through procedures that require a showing of a public purpose and the provision of
fair payment for the taking of someones property.
7.
The Sixth Amendment requires a speedy trial and the right to witnesses and counsel.
8.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. One of the greatest
challenges in interpreting this provision consistently is that what is considered cruel and
unusual varies from culture to culture and from generation to generation.

THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY

1.

In the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court found a right of privacy in

the Constitution. This right was confirmed and extended in 1973 in the case of Roe v. Wade.
2.
Cases concerning the scope of right to privacy have included debates over birth
control, abortion, gay and lesbian rights, and withdrawal of life-sustaining medical support.
3.

With the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, civil rights

became part of the Constitution, guaranteed to each citizen through equal protection of the
laws. This equal protection clause launched a century of political movements and legal
efforts to press for racial equality.
From 1896 until the end of World War II, the Supreme Court held that
racial discrimination did not violate the Fourteenth Amendments equal protection clause as
long as the facilities were equal, thus establishing the separate but equal rule that prevailed
through the mid-twentieth century.
African Americans built organizations and devised strategies for asserting
their constitutional rights. One such strategy, championed by the NAACP, sought to win
political rights through political pressure and litigation.
After World War II, the Supreme Court began to undermine the separate
but equal doctrine, eventually declaring it unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.
The Brown decision marked the beginning of a difficult battle for equal
protection in education, employment, housing, voting, and other areas of social and
economic activity.
The first phase of school desegregation was met with such massive
resistance in the South that ten years after Brown, fewer than 1 percent of black children in
the South were attending schools with whites.
In 1971, the Supreme Court held that state-imposed desegregation could be
brought about by busing children across school districts.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed job discrimination by all
private and public employersincluding governmental agenciesemploying more than fifteen
workers.

In 1965, Congress significantly strengthened legislation protecting voting

rights by barring literacy and other tests as a condition for voting in southern states. In the
long run, the laws extending and protecting voting rights could prove to be the most effective
of all civil rights legislation, because increased political participation by minorities has
altered the shape of American politics.
The movement for womens civil rights grew alongside the racial civil rights
movement. The movement toward womens suffrage was formally launched in 1878 with the
introduction of a proposed constitutional amendment in Congress. Parallel efforts were
made in the states. Womens organizations staged mass meetings, parades, petitions, and
protests. The Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920.

THE UNIVERSALIZATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS

1.

The protections won by the African American civil rights movement spilled over to

protect other groups as well, including women, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans,
disabled Americans, and gays and lesbians.

2.

In the 1970s, the Supreme Court helped to establish gender discrimination as a

major and highly visible civil rights issue. Although the Court refused to treat gender
discrimination as the equivalent of racial discrimination, it did make it easier for plaintiffs to
file and win suits on the basis of gender discrimination by applying intermediate scrutiny to
these cases.
3.
Latino political strategy has developed along two tracks. One is a traditional ethnicgroup path of voter registration and voting along ethnic lines. The second is a legal strategy
using the various civil rights laws designed to ensure fair access to the political system. Since
the 1960s, rights for Latinos have been intertwined with immigrant rights.
4.
Asian Americans faced discriminatory citizenship and immigration regulations in
the early to mid-twentieth century. The denial of basic civil rights to Japanese Americans
culminated in the decision to remove forcibly Americans of Japanese descent as well as
Japanese noncitizen residents from their homes and confine them in internment camps
during World War II. Asian immigration increased rapidly after the 1965 Immigration Act,
which lifted discriminatory quotas.
5.
In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled in Lau v. Nichols, a suit filed on behalf of Chinese
students in San Francisco, that school districts have to provide education for students whose
English is limited.
6.
The 1970 amendments to the Voting Rights Act permanently outlawed literacy tests
in all fifty states and mandated bilingual ballots or oral assistance for those who speak
Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Native American languages, or Eskimo languages.
7.
The concept of rights for the disabled began to emerge in the 1970s as the civil rights
model spread to other groups. The movement achieved its greatest success with the passage of
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which guarantees equal employment rights
and access to public businesses for the disabled.
8.
In less than thirty years, the gay and lesbian movement has become one of the largest
civil rights movements in contemporary America. In 1996, the Supreme Court, in Romer v.
Evans, explicitly extended fundamental civil rights protections to gays and lesbians. In
Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Court struck down a Texas statute criminalizing certain
intimate sexual conduct between consenting partners of the same sex, thus extending the
right of privacy to gays and lesbians.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
1.

By seeking to provide compensatory action to overcome the consequences of past

discrimination, affirmative action has expanded the goals of groups championing minority
rights.
2.

Affirmative action has been a controversial policy. Opponents charge that

affirmative action creates group rights and establishes quotas, both of which are inimical to
the American tradition. Proponents of affirmative action argue that the long history of group
discrimination makes affirmative action necessary and that efforts to compensate for some
bad action in the past are well within the federal governments purview. Recent conflicts over
affirmative action have raised questions about what is effective political action.