POL 140 Fundamental American Liberties

1. POL 140
Fall 2014

4.  Civil liberties issues dominate headlines
 Civil liberties issues part of national policy
 Has Bill of Rights really helped to secure
individual freedoms of Americans?

6.  Individual freedoms placing limitations on the
power of government
 Fundamental rights outside the authority and
regulation and government

8. The Social Contract
“Consent of
the Governed”
Locke

11. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the Freedom of Speech”

12.  Allows for an informed citizenry
 Provides against influence of government
 Provides a voice for the minority
 Preserves existence of truth in society

13.  Speech Criticizing the Government
 “Fighting Words” and Offensive Speech
 Symbolic Speech
 Sexually Explicit Speech
 Campaign Finance: Money as Speech?

15.  Sedition
 Speech criticizing the government for the purpose
of inciting rebellion

16. John Adams

17.  “Free speech” did not occur after WWI
 Passage of sedition acts aimed at anyone
considered “anti-government.”
 Two Main Goals:
 Limit anti-war ideas
 Limit supporters of radical governmental change

18. CHARLES SCHENCK JUSTICE HOLMES

22.  Paul Cohen accused of wearing jacket with
“F*** the Draft” on it.
 Message not targeting anyone in particular
 No evidence Cohen was actively promoting
disturbance

27.  First Amendment does NOT automatically protect
against obscene speech
 Supreme Court and Informal Tests
 Miller Test
 Does work offensively depict or describe sexual acts?
 Whether the work, taken as whole, lacks serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific” value
(SLAPS Test)

30. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom…of the press”

31.  Restrictions on press before message published
 Dangerous form of censorship
 Limits “marketplace of ideas”

33.  Libel is publishing of false and damaging
statements about another person
 Supreme Court says person must show:
 Statements were false or damaging
 Publisher must have acted maliciously

35. “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

36.  Establishment Clause
 Free Exercise Clause

37.  Federal government may not pass laws
providing for “an establishment” of religion

38. THOMAS JEFFERSON JAMES MADISON

39. SEPARATIONISTS
 Clear division between
church and state
ACCOMODATIONISTS
 State should NOT be
separate from religion
 Accommodate religion,
without showing preference
for one religion

40. ENGEL V. VITALE (1962)
 Unconstitutional for state
officials to compose official
prayer and encourage it to
be recited in public schools
LEMON V. KURTZMAN (1973)
 Established Lemon Test to judge
if laws relating to religious
activity are constitutional:
 The law must have a secular
(nonreligious) purpose
 The law must neither advance
nor inhibit any religion
 The law must avoid excessive
entanglement between
church and state

41.  Individuals may freely practice religion
without interference from government

44.  Probable Cause
 Exclusionary Rule
 If search found to violate Fourth Amendment
 Evidence resulting from search cannot be used
 Exceptions: “Good Faith,” “Plain View”

47. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall…
have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence”

48. Clarence Earl Gideon

58. Terri Schiavo
Cruzan v. Missouri
Department of Health
(1983)