Bill of Rights, 14th Amendment, 1st Amendment Let’s GO!

http://www.schooltube.com/video/03f9c858260a4da9b582/

• First 10 amendments

• Government cannot abuse the rights of individuals

• Protects from acts of congressional, state, and local government that may threaten people’s basic rights.

• Defines citizenship AND lays the groundwork for making individual rights national

• No state can deprive any person of freedom of speech, press, religion, or assembly because these freedoms are essential to a person’s liberty.

• Gitlow v. New York (1925)

“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law...”

-Fourteenth Amendment, 1868

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

• Guarantees of religious freedom

• Establishment clause: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

• Free Exercise Clause: Prohibits government from interfering with the free exercise of religion

• Separation of church and state

• First case to deal with Establishment Clause

• A challenge to a New Jersey law allowing the state to pay for busing students to schools operated by a church or religious group

• The court rules that the law was constitutional, law benefited students rather than aided a religion directly

• Used in 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman

• Used to determine whether aid violates establishment clause

• State aid to church schools must:1. Have a clear, secular

nonreligious purpose2. Neither advance nor

inhibit religion3. Avoid “excessive

government entanglement with religion”

• Allows public high schools receiving federal funds to permit student religious groups to hold meetings in the school

• Provides an opportunity for student prayer groups in public schools

• The establishment clause has been applied to classroom instruction

• Epperson v. Arkansas voided an Arkansas law that banned teaching evolution in public schools

• Supreme Court has never permitted religious freedom to justify and behavior, particularly when religious practices conflict with criminal laws

• Reynolds claims that the law limits his freedom of religion

• This case establishes that people are not free to worship in ways that violate laws protecting health, safety, or morals of the community.

• Whether children could be forced to salute the American flag

• Minersville School district v. Gobitis

• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette– Patriotism could be achieved without forcing people to violate their religious beliefs

• That every person have the right to speak freely

– Pure Speech – verbal expression of thought and opinion before an audience that has chosen listen

– Symbolic speech – involves using actions and symbols, in addition to or instead of using words, to express opinions

• “Clear and Present Danger Rule”– When the speech in question clearly presents an immediate danger, the First Amendment does not protect it

• The Bad Tendency Doctrine– The Court held that speech could be restricted even if it had a tendency to lead to illegal action

• The Preferred Position Doctrine– Laws limiting these freedoms should be unconstitutional unless the government can show it absolutely necessary

• Defamatory speech: false speech that damages a person’s good name, character, or reputation– Slander: spoken - Libel: written

• Fighting words: words that are so insulting they provoke immediate violence

• Student speech: Bethel School District v. Fraser and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

• Allowing opinions to be written, circulated or broadcasted

• Prior restraint: censorship of information before it is published

New York Times Co v United States

• Fair Trials and Free Press– Sheppard v. Maxwell: press coverage had interfered with Sheppard’s right to a fair trail• Moving the trial to reduce pretrial publicity

• Limiting the numbers of reporters in the courtroom

• Placing controls on reporters’ conduct in the courtroom

• Isolating witnesses and jurors from the press

• Having the jury kept isolated until the trial is over

• Protecting News Sources– Can reporters refuse to surrender evidence?

• Shield laws: laws that give reporters some means of protection against being forced to disclose confidential information or sources in state courts

• Free Press Issues– Radio and Television– Motion Pictures – E-Mail and the Internet– Obscenity: society has the right to protection from obscene speech, pictures, and written material• Local communities should set their own standards for obscenity.

• Protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

• Examples: petitions, letters, lobbying, carrying signs in a parade, marching

• Parades and demonstrations: must first obtain a permit