Chapter 5
Civil Liberties
WHO GOVERNS?
1. Why do the courts play so large a role
in deciding what our civil liberties
should be?
TO WHAT ENDS?
1. Why not display religious symbols on
government property?
2. If a person confesses to committing a
crime, why is that confession
sometimes not used in court?
3. Does the Patriot Act reduce our
liberties?
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Culture and Civil Liberties
Rights in Conflict
Cultural Conflicts
Applying the Bill of Rights to the
States
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Rights in Conflict
Examples:
• Right to a fair trial vs. freedom of the
press (Sam Sheppard case)
• US Government’s obligation to “provide
for the common defense” vs. freedom of
the press (“Pentagon Papers case”)
• Freedom of speech vs. preservation of
public order (Carl Kunz case)
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Rights in Conflict
Acts of the U.S. Congress restricting
civil liberties during wartime:
• Sedition Act of 1798
• Espionage and Sedition Acts 1917‒1918
• Smith Act 1940
• Internal Security Act 1950
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AP Images
An Hispanic girl studies both English
and Spanish in a bilingual classroom.
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Culture Conflicts
Examples:
• Religious displays on public property
• Is bilingual education constitutionally
required?
• May private associations make their own
rules concerning the right to “associate
freely?”
• Balancing community sensitivities vs.
personal self-expression
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Figure 5.1 Annual Legal
Immigration, 1850–2010
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Applying the Bill of Rights to the
States
• Due process of law
• Equal protection of the law
• Selective incorporation
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Applying the Bill of Rights to the
States
Second Amendment examples:
• District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
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Interpreting and Applying the
First Amendment
Freedom of
expression
Freedom of religion
Prior restraint
Clear-and-present
danger test
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Women picketed in front
of the White House,
urging President Warren
Harding to release
political radicals
arrested during his
administration.
Bettmann/CORBIS
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What is Speech?
Forms of speech not
automatically given
constitutional
protection:
1. Libel
2. Obscenity
3. Symbolic Speech
4. False Advertising
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“Symbolic speech”:
when young men burned
their draft cards during
the 1960s to protest the
Vietnam War, the
Supreme Court ruled
that it was an illegal act
for which they could be
punished.
Bettmann/CORBIS
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Commercial and
Youthful Speech
Corporations
Interest Groups
Youth
Judy Griesedieck/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Public schools cannot organize
prayers, but private ones can.
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Church and State
The Free Exercise Clause: Congress
shall make no law prohibiting the
“free exercise” of religion
Establishment Clause: Congress
shall make no law “respecting an
establishment of religion”
Wall of Separation Theory: Court
ruling that government cannot be
involved with religion
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How We Compare: Church and
State
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Crime and Due Process
The Exclusionary Rule
• Mapp v. Ohio
Search and Seizure
• Search warrants
• Giving permission for a search
• Arrest
• “In plain view” and “under immediate control”
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Crime and Due Process
Confessions and Self-Incrimination
Relaxing the Exclusionary Rule
Terrorism and Civil Liberties
Searches without Warrants
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JOE SKIPPER/ Reuters/ Corbis
Inside a cell at the terrorist prison in Guantanamo,
where Muslim inmates receive a copy of the Koran,
a chess set, and an arrow pointing toward Mecca.
p. 119
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
MEMORANDUM
To: Rebecca Saikia, Supreme Court Justice
From: David Wilson, law clerk
Subject: Patriot Act and libraries
The Patriot Act allows the FBI to seek the records of
possible terrorists from banks, businesses, and libraries.
Many libraries claim this will harm the constitutional rights
of Americans. You support these rights, but are also aware
of the need to protect national security.
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Arguments supporting the Patriot Act:
1. The Patriot Act does not target individuals who have not
violated a criminal law and who do not threaten human life.
2. For the FBI to collect information about borrowers, it must
first obtain permission from a federal judge.
3. Terrorists may use libraries to study and plan activities that
threaten national security.
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Arguments against the Patriot Act:
1. Freedom of speech and expression are fundamental
constitutional guarantees that should not be infringed.
2. The law might harm groups engaged in peaceful protests.
3. The law allows the government to delay notifying people
that their borrowing habits are being investigated.
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Your decision:
Uphold this provision ?
Overturn this provision ?
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