Advanced Placement U.S. Government & Politics

1. Advanced PlacementU.S. Government & Politics Unit VI: Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

2. Unit VI.1 – The 14th Amendment • Bill of Rights • Due Process Clause • Equal Protection Clause • 14th Amendment • After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, provided citizenship to former slaves and free black and gave the vote to black males. • The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment extended the Bill of Rights to the states and became the basis of most civil rights and civil liberties cases.

3. Unit VI.2 – Selective Incorporation • Civil Liberties • Civil Rights • Incorporation doctrine / Selective Incorporation • Civil Liberties are protected by the Bill of Rights. • Supreme Court • Incorporation Doctrine • Limits states’ ability to infringe on Civil Liberties

4. Unit VI.3 – Religious Freedom • “A wall of separation between Church and State” exits. • Thomas Jefferson • Does this “wall” actually exist? • Examples?

5. Incorporation of Religious Freedom Court Cases “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion….” - First Amendment Establishment Clause

6. Engle v. Vitale (1962)"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers, and our country." Background Constitutional Question Decision Composed by NYS Board of Regents “Non-denominational” Took power away from districts Voluntary Does the reading of a pray at the beginning of the school day violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment? (6-1 decision) Yes. Neither the prayer's nondenominational character nor its voluntary character saves it from unconstitutionality. By providing the prayer, New York officially approved religion.

7. Abington V. SchempP (1963) Background Constitutional Question Decision PA law: 10 Bible verses read to start the school day Abington Added: Lords Prayer Excused by parent note. Did the Pennsylvania law and Abington's policy, requiring public school students to participate in classroom religious exercises, violate the religious freedom of students as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments? (8-1 decision) Yes. Requirement violated both establishment and free-exercise clause.

8. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) Background Constitutional Question Decision PA – Provided subsidies for salary & secular materials at private schools RI – Provided salary supplement to elementary private school teachers Did the Rhode Island and Pennsylvania statutes violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by making state financial aid available to "church- related educational institutions"? (8-0 decision) Yes. The Court found that the subsidization of parochial schools furthered a process of religious inculcation, and that the "continuing state surveillance" necessary to enforce the specific provisions of the laws would inevitably entangle the state in religious affairs.

9. The Lemon Test • From Lemon v. Kurtzman decision: • Three ... tests may be gleaned from our cases. First, the statute must have a secular legislative purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; finally, the statute must not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.

10. Reynolds v. United States (1879) Background Constitutional Question Decision George Reynolds Secretary to Brigham Young Arrested for bigamy Morril Anti-Bigamy Statute Conviction upheld by Utah Territorial Court Statehood - 1896 Does the federal anti-bigamy statute violate the First Amendment's free exercise clause because plural marriage is part of religious practice? (9-0 decision) No. The statute can punish criminal activity without regard to religious belief. The First Amendment protected religious belief, but it did not protect religious practices that were judged to be criminal such as bigamy.

11. Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) Background Constitutional Question Decision Wisconsin Law All children attend school to the age of 16 Two Old Order Amish & one Mennonite parents argued that high school education violated their religious beliefs. Did Wisconsin's requirement that all parents send their children to school at least until age 16 violate the First Amendment by criminalizing the conduct of parents who refused to send their children to school for religious reasons? (7-0 decision) Yes. The individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade.

12. Unit VI.4 – Freedom of speech & Press • John Peter Zenger • 1735 • How has the First Amendment’s freedoms of speech and press been incorporated as a right of all American citizens?

13. Schenck v. United States (1919) Background Constitutional Question Decision Charles Schenck WWI Mailed circulars urging resisting conscription – but only through non-violence Arrested for violating the Espionage & Sedition Acts Are Schenck's actions (words, expression) protected by the free speech clause of the First Amendment? (9-0 decision) No. The Court concluded that Schenck is not protected in this situation. Freedom of speech is not absolute War-time “Clear & Present Danger”

14. Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) Background Constitutional Question Decision John & MaryBeth Tinker Vietnam Era Black arm-bands as war protest. Rule passed banning armbands. Suspended until they came to school without armbands. Does a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the First Amendment's freedom of speech protections? (7-2 decision) Yes. The armbands represented symbolic speech. The school did not prove the armbands would disrupt the school day. - Disruption, slander, obscene can be banned.

15. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) • Supreme Court case that decided that the part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law that prevents corporations and labor unions from spending money on advertisements independent of political candidates or parties is unconstitutional.

16. New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) Background Constitutional Question Decision Full-page Ad in NYT – claims MLK’s arrest for perjury was an attempt to stop movements for integration and Black vote. LB Sullivan – Montgomery, AL City Commissioner sued for libel. AL did not require proof of defamation; $500,000 Did Alabama's libel law, by not requiring Sullivan to prove that an advertisement personally harmed him and dismissing the same as untruthful due to factual errors, unconstitutionally infringe on the First Amendment's freedom of speech and freedom of press protections? (9-0 decision) The Court held that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity).

17. New York Times v. United States (1971) Background Constitutional Question Decision “Pentagon Papers” Classified Defense Department file on Vietnam. Nixon Administration argued prior restraint necessary to protect national security. Did the Nixon administration's efforts to prevent the publication of what it termed "classified information" violate the First Amendment? ( (6-3 decision) Yes. The Court held that the government did not overcome the "heavy presumption against" prior restraint of the press in this case.

18. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Background Constitutional Question Decision Principal received school newspaper pages to proof. Removed two articles that he deemed inappropriate due to content (divorce / drug use) Students sued Did the principal's deletion of the articles violate the students' rights under the first amendment? (5-3 decision) No. The Court held that schools are essentially publishers and can remove items from school sponsored publications and are not required to promote specific types of student speech.

19. What this all means… • Free speech is NOT absolute, but the Court sets high standards for when it can be limited: • Clear and Present Danger – “fire” in a crowded theater • Preferred Position Doctrine – • Preferred Position: free speech, press, religion • Cannot be abridged unless imminent threat to the nation would result

20. What this all means… • Free press is often tied to free speech, making it more difficult to limit. • No Prior Restraint – government cannot prevent publication beforehand unless there is a true threat to national security. • Libel and obscenity are not fully protected.

21. Unit VI.5 – Right to Privacy • Exclusionary rule • Inevitable Discovery • Objective Good Faith • “undue Burden” • How has the First Amendment’s freedoms of speech and press been incorporated as a right of all American citizens?

22. Exclusionary Rule Cases • Weeks v. United States • 1914 • Warrantless search • Sending lottery tickets through mail • Property not returned • 1st use of exclusionary rule – federal cases only • Mapp v. Ohio • 1961 • Warrantless search • Police lied about warrant, arrested on obscenity charges • Incorporated exclusionary rule (6-3)

23. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Background Constitutional Question Decision Griswold – Director of Planned Parenthood league of CT. Gave contraception advice CT law: no counseling or medical treatment to married persons for prevention of conception Does the Constitution protect the right of marital privacy against state restrictions on a couple's ability to be counseled in the use of contraceptives? (7-2) 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th Amends. Combine to create a right to privacy (new) in martial relations. Strikes down CT law.

24. Roe v. Wade (1973) Texas law struck down Allowed states to limit access in second and third trimesters Currently being challenged in many states

25. Webster v.Reproductive Health Services(1987) Background Constitutional Question Decision Missouri Abortion Restrictions: Public employees & facilities not to be used unless to save mother No counseling or encouragement for abortion Viability tests after 20 weeks Did the Missouri restrictions unconstitutionally infringe upon the right to privacy or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? (5-4) States have right to regulate abortions States not required to be in “business of abortion” Viability tests upheld “Not revisiting Roe v. Wade”

26. Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992) Background Constitutional Question Decision Pennsylvania Law: Informed consent, 24 waiting period, minors must obtain parental consent, married women had to indicated they notified husband of choice. Appeals court upheld all but spousal notification Can a state require women who want an abortion to obtain informed consent, wait 24 hours, and, if minors, obtain parental consent, without violating their right to abortions as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade? (5-4) Reaffirmed Roe but upheld most of PA law. Added new standard for abortion restriction laws – Does the regulation impose an “undue burden” on women in pursuit of an abortion?

27. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Background Constitutional Question Decision Responding to a weapons call, police entered a private residence Two men engaging in consensual sex act Texas law forbade members of same sex engaging in sexual contact Do these criminal convictions under the Texas "Homosexual Conduct" law violate the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process and the Constitutional right to privacy? (6-3) Texas law violates due process clause Are adults free to engage in private conduct under due process clause? Yes, they are.

28. What it All Means… • 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th Amendments provide a Constitutional a right to privacy starting with Griswold v. Connecticut • “Exclusionary Rule” prevents illegally obtained evidence from being used in court • People have a fundamental “right to be left alone” according to Justice Brandeis

29. Unit VI.6 – Due Process & Criminal Rights • Miranda Warning • Self-incrimination • Double Jeopardy • How have the 5th, 6th& 8th Amendments’ rights of the accused been incorporated as a right of all American citizens?

30. Rights of the Accused Cases • Gideon V. Wainwright • State must provide an attorney • Escobedo V. Illinois • Questioning must stop when person requests attorney. • Miranda V. Arizona • Arrested persons must be informed of their rights – or statements cannot be used in court.

31. Furman V. Georgia (1972) Background Constitutional Question Decision Furman burglarizing a home Tripped, gun went off, homeowner killed Death penalty Does the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in these cases constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments? (5-4) Yes. Death penalty constitutes a violation of the 8th Amendment in this type of case.

32. Gregg V. Georgia (1976) Background Constitutional Question Decision Armed robbery and murder Death sentence Georgia Supreme Court upheld death penalty of murder, but not robbery Greg argued that the death penalty violate the 8th and 14th Amendments Is the imposition of the death sentence prohibited under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as "cruel and unusual" punishment? (7-2) No. In this case, the death penalty was not seen as a violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments .

33. Atkins v. Virginia (2002) Background Constitutional Question Decision Atkins found guilty of kidnapping, robbery, capital murder. Psychologist testified that Atkins was mildly mentally retarded. Sentenced to death, rejecting precedent (no death penalty for mentally retarded). Is the imposition of the death sentence on a mentally retarded person "cruel and unusual" punishment? (6-3) Yes. Because of lessened capacity and culpability, capital punishment for the mentally retarded is “cruel and unusual punishment”.

34. Unit VI.7 – The Civil Rights Movement • Civil Rights Act (64) • Civil Rights Act (68) • De facto segregation • De jure segregation • Jim Crow Laws • Poll Tax • Voting Rights Act (65) • How did the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s help secure civil rights for all Americans?

35. Unit VI.8 – Modern Civil Rights • Affirmative Action • Age Discrimination Act (67) • American with Disabilities Act (90) • Equal Rights Amendment • Title IX (72) • Voting Rights Act (82) • How have civil rights been expanded for women and minorities over the last 40 years?