The document provides an overview of civil liberties and rights protected by the US Constitution, including freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. It discusses how the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment place limitations on government to protect individual liberties, and how the Supreme Court has interpreted and ruled on cases related to these protections over time. Key topics covered include the establishment clause, limits on free speech, symbolic speech, public displays of religion, and government regulation of assemblies and protests.

1. Chapter 19
Civil Liberties:
First Amendment Freedoms

2. The Unalienable Rights
Section 1

3. Introduction
 How does the Constitution protect the
rights of individuals against government?
 The Constitution guarantees civil rights and civil
liberties to theAmerican people.
 Many of these rights and liberties are protected by the
laws established in the Bill of Rights and the 14th
Amendment.

4. Key Documents
 The Declaration of Independence states that all
men have unalienable rights and that governments exist
to protect these rights.
 The Preamble to the Constitution states that
purpose of theAmerican government is to “secure the
blessings of Liberty”
to the people.
 Articles I and III of the Constitution guarantee many
key rights.

5. The Bill of Rights
 There was no general
listing of the rights of the
people in the Constitution
until the Bill of Rights was
ratified in 1791. Now the
Bill of Rights is an essential
part of the Constitution.
 James Madison (right) authored
the Bill of Rights.

6. Civil Rights and Liberties
 Civil liberties can be thought of as freedoms protected
from possible government abuse.
 Civil liberties include freedom of religion, speech, and the
press as well as the right to a fair trial.
 Civil rights can be thought of as freedoms defended by
the government.
 Civil rights include laws banning discrimination.

7. Limited Government
 All governments have authority over
individual citizens.
 In a democratic government such as the
United States, this authority is limited by
laws like the Bill of Rights, which specifies
individual rights and freedoms that
government cannot violate.

8. Relative Rights
 U.S. citizens may exercise their
own rights as long as they do
not infringe upon the rights of
others.
 For example, the right to free
speech does not protect obscene
language.
 Rights can come into conflict
with each other.When this
happens, the courts must then
decide the issue. Blaring music
late at night is not a right
because it infringes on the
rights of others.

9. Whose Rights?
 Most constitutional rights extend to all people in
the United States, including aliens, or non-
citizens.
 However, certain rights of aliens, such as freedom
of travel, can be restricted.
 During wartime these restrictions may increase.
 For example, inWorldWar II people of Japanese
descent were forced to relocate to internment camps.

10. Federalism
 The Bill of Rights applies to the actions of the
federal government, not the state governments.
 However, each state constitution contains its own
bill of rights to protect the freedoms of its
citizens.
 In addition, the 14th Amendment extends the
basic rights protected by the Bill of Rights to the
citizens of all states.

11. The 14th Amendment
 The 14th Amendment includes a Due Process
Clause.The Supreme Court has ruled that this
clause means no state can deny any person their
basic rights and liberties.
 Over time, through the process of incorporation,
these basic rights and liberties have been defined
as including most of the protections in the Bill of
Rights.

12. Gitlow v. New York, 1925
 NewYork state had convicted Benjamin Gitlow of
criminal anarchy for urging people to overthrow the
government.
 The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, but ruled for
the first time that the 1st Amendment right to free
speech also extended to the states because of the 14th
Amendment.

13. The 9th Amendment
 The 9th Amendment declares that the people have
rights beyond those specifically listed in the
Constitution.
 Over time the Supreme Court has determined
that some of these unlisted rights include:
 The right of a person not to be tried on the basis of
unlawfully gained evidence
 The right of a woman to choose to have an abortion

14. Freedom of Religion
Section 2

15. Introduction
 How does the 1st Amendment protect the
freedom of religion?
 The Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment bans
Congress from passing any law to establish a religion.
 The Free Exercise Clause bans Congress from
preventing anyone from freely practicing their own
religion.
 The 14th Amendment extends these bans to the state
governments.

16. Religious Freedom
 Support for religious
freedom was partly a
rejection of colonial
government-sponsored
churches.
 In 1786Thomas Jefferson
wrote theVirginia Statute
for Religious Freedom,
influencing the 1st
Amendment.
 Jefferson said the 1st
Amendment created a “wall
of separation between
church and state.”

17. Church and State
 The federal government does not support a specific
religion, but does encourage religion in general.
 Most religious property and contributions to religions
are not taxed.
 Oaths of office, the national anthem, and U.S. coins
and currency make reference to God.
 The exact limits of the Establishment Clause remain
controversial.

18. Religion and Public Schools
 Most Supreme Court rulings on the
Establishment Clause have involved religion and
education.
 The Court has ruled that public school students may
be released during school to attend religious classes,
but only if those classes are held in private places off
school grounds.
 The Court has allowed states to fund bussing for
parochial as well as public schools, as a safety measure.

19. School Prayer
 The Court has found in seven major cases that the
1st Amendment requires the government to
neither aid nor oppose religion.
 This means schools cannot sponsor religious
exercises such as prayer.

20. School Prayer
 The Court has banned
mandatory prayers to
start school, posting of
theTen Commandments
in classrooms, and
school-sponsored prayers
at graduations and
football games.
 Students can pray as
individuals in school and at
school events.

21. Other School Issues
 The Equal AccessAct of 1984 requires public high
schools to let student religious groups meet at school.
 The Supreme Court has ruled that this law applies to
grade schools as well.
 The Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot ban the
teaching of evolution in public schools or require the
teaching of creation science.

22. Parochial Schools
 Several states provide public financial aid to
parochial schools.
 Supporters argue that parochial students would
otherwise be educated at public expense and that their
parents pay taxes to support public schools.
 Opponents argue that parents could send their
children to public schools and that funding parochial
schools amounts to government sponsorship of
religious teaching.

23. The Lemon Test
 This is a three-part test used to decide if a state
law establishes a religion.
 It is usually applied to determine if state aid to
parochial schools is constitutional.
 The test comes from the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman
case, where the Court struck down state financial
aid to parochial schools in Pennsylvania.

24. The Lemon Test

25. Examples of the Lemon Test
 The Court usually finds public aid for church-related
schools to be unconstitutional:
 It has banned using taxes to pay for teacher salaries, field
trips, school districts set up for a religious community,
or to reimburse parents for parochial tuition.
 The Court has allowed states to give tax deductions or
tuition vouchers to parents who send children to private
schools, which may include parochial schools.

26. Public Displays
 Are government-
sponsored chaplains,
seasonal displays, or
displays of theTen
Commandments
constitutional?
 The Supreme Court has
given different rulings on
displays, depending upon
how they promote religion.

27. Public Displays
 A Christmas tree sparkles in
front of the California State
Capital.
 The Court has ruled that
“government may celebrate
Christmas in some manner
and form, but not in a way
that endorses Christian
doctrine.”

28. Public Displays
 A chaplain offers the
opening prayer in both
houses of Congress and
most State legislatures.
 The Court has ruled
that this practice,
unlike organized prayer
in public schools, is
constitutionally
permissible.

29. Limits on Exercise of Religion
 No government law or action can deny a person
the right to hold any religious beliefs that they
wish.
 However, no one has the right to break criminal
laws, offend public morals, or threaten public
safety while practicing their religion.

30. Protections
 The Supreme Court has often ruled that the Free
Exercise Clause only applies to beliefs rooted in religion.
 The Court has struck down laws requiring a license to
raise money for religious causes.
 The Court has ruled thatAmish children do not have to
attend school past the 8th grade and that Jehovah’s
Witnesses do not have to salute theAmerican flag due to
the beliefs of each religious group.

31. Freedom of Speech and Press
Section 3

32. Introduction
 What are the limits on the guarantees of
free speech and free press?
 No person has the right to libel or slander another
person.
 It is illegal to encourage others to commit a crime.
 Laws can ban the use of obscene words, printing or
distributing obscene materials, and false advertising.

33. Free Expression
 The 1st amendment guarantees each person the right of
free expression by speech, writing, and all other means
of communication.
 The 14th Amendment extends this federal right to citizens of
every state.
 Everyone has the right to hear what others have to say on
public issues.
 Only an informed populace can make good decisions about
public policy.

34. Seditious Speech
 Congress has passed
several laws banning
seditious speech.
 TheAlien and Sedition Acts
of 1798 punished
government critics.
 The EspionageAct of 1917
made it a crime to say, write,
or publish disloyal comments
about the government.
 The SmithAct of 1940 makes
it a crime to urge or plan the
violent overthrow of the
American government.

35. What Counts as Sedition?
 In Schenck v. United States,the Supreme Court
established the “clear and present danger rule.”
 Words can be banned if there is a strong risk that they will
encourage criminal activity.
 In Yates v. United States,the Court ruled that it is not
illegal to urge someone to believe something but it is
illegal to urge them to do something.

36. Obscenity
 It is illegal under federal and state law to
distribute obscene material.
 The Supreme Court created a three-part test to
determine if something is obscene.
 Material is obscene if it:
 Incites lust according to local community standards
 Deals with sexual conduct banned in an anti-obscenity
law
 Lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific
value

37. Prior Restraint
 Government censorship is
usually illegal.
 Censorship may be allowed
if published material could
endanger national security.
 This rule has been applied to
censor material distributed in
military bases and federal
prisons or about the CIA.

38. Prior Restraint
 Public schools have a broad power to censor
“school-sponsored expressive activities,”
including school newspapers and plays.
 School officials must show that their
censorship is in the educational interest of
the school.

39. The Media
 The Supreme Court has
ruled that under federal
law, news reporters must
testify in court even if it
means revealing
confidential sources.
 Some 30 states have passed
shield laws that give
reporters some rights to
withhold confidential
sources.

40. The Media
 Freedom of the press does not give the movie
industry as much protection as newspapers. Films
can be censored.
 Radio and television receive the least 1st Amendment
protection.
 Radio andTV stations are licensed to broadcast their
signals on publicly owned airwaves.
 Such stations have no guaranteed 1st Amendment right to
broadcast their material.
 Instead, they fall under the commerce power of Congress.

41. The Media
 Radio andTV are heavily
regulated by the Federal
Communications
Commission (FCC)
 The FCC can refuse to
license stations that use
indecent language.
 CableTV has fewer
regulations.

42. The Media
 The few Supreme Court
cases dealing with the
Internet have involved
laws aimed at stopping
the distribution of
pornography online.
 Most of these laws have
been overturned, except
for the Children’s
Internet ProtectionAct.

43. Symbolic Speech
 Symbolic speech is the expression of ideas by a
person’s conduct and is often meant as an act of
dissent.
 An example is picketing a workplace while on
strike to draw public attention to a controversy.
Peaceful picketing is protected speech.
 Burning theAmerican flag or a cross as a political
protest is also protected speech according to the
Supreme Court.

44. Symbolic Speech
If the object of the protest is within the
constitutional powers of the
government
If whatever restriction is placed on
expression is no greater than necessary
If the government’s real intent is not to
prevent dissent

45. Commercial Speech
 Commercial speech most often refers to
advertising.
 The Supreme Court usually strikes down
arbitrary bans on advertising.
 The government can ban false and misleading
advertisements or the advertising of illegal goods
and services.
 Congress has also banned tobacco ads on radio
and television.

46. Freedom of Assembly & Petition
Section 4

47. Introduction
 How has the Supreme Court ruled on assembly
and petition cases?
 In general, the Court protects the right of peaceful
assemblies and petitions.
 Governments have the right to set rules on how, when,
and where assemblies can take place, including
requiring permits.
 People do not have the right to trespass or to assemble
or petition on private property.

48. Constitutional Guarantees
 The 1st Amendment guarantees the right to
peaceful assembly and to petition the
government.
 The 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause
extends these rights to citizens of every state.
 The Constitution does not protect assemblies or
petitions that endanger life, property, or public
safety.

49. Examples
 Assemblies include public
demonstrations as well as
organizations such as
political parties and
interest groups.
 Petitions can include
letters, lobbying, and
advertisements.
 Peaceful marches and
parades are protected
forms of assembly.

50. Civil Disobedience
 Civil disobedience involves knowingly breaking
the law in a nonviolent way to protest a law or
public policy.
 The courts have held as a general rule that civil
disobedience is not a constitutionally protected
right.
Those who take part in civil disobedience must
accept the legal consequences of their actions.

51. Limits on Assembly
Governments can decide when, where,
and how assemblies can take place in order
to keep the public peace.
Government rules must be specific and
fairly administered.
Government rules must also be content
neutral.They cannot regulate gatherings
based on what might be said.

52. Public Demonstrations
 Demonstrations tend to take place in public places such
as streets, sidewalks, parks, or public buildings.
 This can conflict with the normal use of these facilities or
streets.
 The subject of a demonstration can also lead to public
arguments.
 The Supreme Court thus allows governments to require
advance notice and permits for demonstrations on public
property.

53. Gregory v. Chicago, 1969
 In 1969, a group marched from Chicago’s city hall to
the mayor’s house to protest segregation in the city’s
schools.
 A crowd of several hundred bystanders gathered to
protest against and throw objects at the marchers.
 The police, fearing violence, arrested the marchers
for disorderly conduct when they refused to leave.
 The Court ruled that the violent bystanders, not the
peaceful marchers, were disturbing the peace.

54. Other Court Cases
 Anti-abortion groups often hold demonstrations to
try to discourage women from going to abortion
clinics.
 The Supreme Court has ruled that judges and state
laws may impose buffer zones limiting how close
demonstrators may come to clinics.
 These measures fall within the government’s power
to limit how, when, and where assemblies take place.

55. Private Property
 People do not have the right to assemble or
petition on private property without permission.
No one has the absolute constitutional right to
hand out leaflets or ask for petition signatures
in a shopping mall.
However, the courts can rule that shopping
center owners should give permission for the
reasonable exercise of the right to petition.

56. Private and Public Property
 The right to peacefully demonstrate on public
property is constitutionally guaranteed, yet
demonstrations on private property are not
constitutionally guaranteed.
 Why has the Court ruled differently on public and
private property demonstrations?

57. Freedom of Association
 The right to join with others to promote
political, economic, and social causes.
 It has been upheld as a constitutional right by
the Supreme Court. People cannot be fired
for belonging to associations and do not have
to reveal them to practice law.
 Associations do not have to accept members
if doing so would contradict the beliefs of the
association.