23/11/2011

US Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Lecture

What are Civil Liberties?

 Your personal rights as spelled out in the Constitution and other founding

documents, such as the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, free

speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, etc.

What are Civil Rights?

 The particulars of how those vague concepts are implemented in law. Under this

definition, our civil liberties don't change (except when we amend the

constitution) but our civil rights change regularly as new laws are made or new

interpretations are ruled upon.

Some examples of civil rights laws are:

 Affirmative action rulings, which require preferential hiring of under-

represented minority and gender groups.

 The Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that public places provide

access for people with disabilities;

 Vermont's recent Civil Union statute, which allows homosexual couples to get

married.

 None of those laws change the basics underlying civil liberty (the right to equal

treatment is the basis of all of them), but they have a big effect on people's

legal rights.

 The philosophical basis for most controversial civil rights law (like those above)

is the idea that a "right" doesn't exist at all if it can't be enforced or

exercised.
 o For example, blacks had the "right" to equal treatment in job hiring

before affirmative action, but had no means to enforce equal

representation in the job place until Affirmative Action laws took effect.

o And disabled people had the "right" to go to any public place, but until

the ADA took effect, they had no means of compelling business owners to

build ramps for wheelchairs, for example.

Examples in US history where civil liberties were not protected by Supreme Court:

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856)

 Black not recognized as citizens

Plessy v. Ferguson (1895)

 Segregation upheld separating blacks and whites

Korematsu v. US (1944)

 It was legal to force Japanese US citizens to move to camps during World War

II since they could possibly be involved in spy activity.

Examples in US history where civil liberties were protected by Supreme

Court:

Brown v. Board of Education (1952)

 Blacks have equal right to an integrated education with whites

Loving v. Virginia (1966)

 Interracial marriage legalized

Griswold v. Connecticut (1964)

 Married couples have a right to contraception

Roe v. Wade (1971)

 Women have a right to abortion

 Legislation from Congress that Advanced Civil Liberties:

14th Amendment

 Adopted on July 9, 1868

 Overruled the Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling by the Supreme Court (1857) that

held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.

 Its Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving

persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure

fairness.

19th Amendment

 It was ratified on August 18, 1920

 Prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex.

 The Constitution allows states to determine the qualifications for voting, and

until the 1910s most states disenfranchised women.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

 Outlawed major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, including

racial segregation.

 It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial

segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general

public
 Recent Controversial legislation that affects civil liberties:

US Patriot Act

 Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W.

Bush on October 26, 2001

 The title of the act is a ten letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for

Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required

(to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001

 The act, is a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th

 It has granted new powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies' ability

to monitor the following:

1. telephone

2. e-mail communications

3. records of medical, financial, mental health and other records

4. authorizes law enforcement officials to force librarians and booksellers

to hand over book check-out and internet use records.

5. to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign

individuals and entities

6. broadened the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities

in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related

acts.

7. Allows FBI to search homes without search warrants or with the person’s

knowledge or them being at home.

8. Allows FBI to investigate citizens for criminal activity without providing

evidence.

 On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama signed a four-year extension of 3 key

provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act:

1. wiretaps

2. continue search of searches of personal records

3. conducting surveillance of "lone wolves" — individuals suspected of

terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups