Civil Liberties & Civil Rights

• Civil Liberties: LIMITS (Amendments 1-6)
• Civil Rights: OBLIGATIONS (Amendments 5, 14)
• Founders focused on limits
• Dual Citizenship? Constitution limits NATIONAL government, what about state governments?
  • Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
  • 14th Amendment (1868)
• Selective incorporation: e.g., Chicago RR v. Chicago (1897)

Civil Liberties

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Right to Bear Arms
• Rights of the Accused
• Right to Privacy

Freedom of Religion

• 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law...respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
  • Free Exercise: The right to practice one’s religion
  • Establishment: ‘Separation of church and state’
• Free Exercise: Not absolute: polygamy, snakes, animal sacrifice, some drugs not allowed
  • W.Va. Board of Ed. v. Barnette (1943): flag salute and pledge
  • Recent controversies: Islamic Centers
• Establishment: Government cannot favor one (or any) religion
  • “Bombshell” cases:
    • Engel v. Vitale (1962): School Prayer
    • Abbington School Dist. v. Schempp (1963): Bible
  • Lemon v Kurtzman (1971): Test
    • Religious? Enhance or Inhibit? Excessive Entanglement?
• Recent Establishment cases:
  • Lynch v. Donnelly (1985): Nativity scene
  • Wallace v. Jaffree (1985): Moment of Silence
  • Lee v. Weisman (1992): Graduation invocation
• Van Orden v. Perry (2005): Ten Command., TX
• McCreary Co. v. ACLU (2005): Ten Command., KY

Freedom of Speech, Press

• 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...”
  • Political Speech: Greatest protection
  • Symbolic speech, “Speech plus”, Assembly, Petition: equal to speech
  • Press: No Prior Restraint
  • Limits: Libel/Slander, Obscenity, “Fighting Words”, Commercial Speech

• Limits
  • Libel & Slander: “Reckless disregard for the truth”
    • New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
  • Obscenity: “patently offensive...prurient interest”
    • Roth v. v. U.S. (1957): “Redeeming social value”
    • Miller v. California (1973): ‘SLAPS’ test
      (Serious, Literary, Artistic, Political, Scientific value)
    • Reno v. ACLU (1997): Internet
    • Justice Potter Stewart: “I know it when I see it.”
    • Can it be defined?
      [web extra: In Memoriam, George Carlin, Doonesbury 7/28/08]
      [video extra: Family Guy, "Phoque"]
  • Dangerous Speech (“Fighting Words”): incites illegal acts or public disorder
    • Schenck v. US (1919): clear and present danger test
    • Content neutrality – Texas v. Johnson (1989): Flag burning
    • Hate speech codes: Belief versus action
      [web extra: Now PBS 2/15/02, "Academic Freedom after 9/11"]
  • Commercial Speech: advertisements, claims
    • Can be regulated: e.g., FTC (marketing), FDA (drugs)

Rights of the Accused

• 5th Amendment: Due Process – “No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law”
  [audio extra: NPR story 4/21/04, "High Court Hears Cuban Detainees' Case...", requires RealPlayer]
  [web extra: NewsHour PBS 4/20/04, "War and Liberties"]
• 4th Amendment: Search & Seizure – “The right of the people to be secure...against unreasonable searches and seizures...”
• 6th Amendment: Right to Counsel – “...[T]he accused shall enjoy the right to...Counsel...”

Search and Seizure

• Consent, Probable Cause, Warrant
• Exclusionary rule: evidence obtained in violation of 4th Amend. not admissible in court
  • Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Exceptions
  • Credibility: Harris v. N. Y. (1971)
  • “Good faith”: US v. Leon (1984)
  • No-knock entry: Hudson v. Michigan (2006)

Right to Counsel

• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): Right to counsel during trial
• Escobedo v. Illinois (1964): Right to counsel after arrest
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966): Must be informed
• Recent cases:
  • U.S. v. Gonzalez-Lopez (2006): Right to counsel of choice
  • Maryland v. Shatzer (2010): 14 day limit
  • Berghuis v. Thomkins (2010): Must speak up
  • Vega v. Tekoh (2022): Remedy is exclusion, not lawsuit