Matching –
Amendments – no specific cases for first amendments.
Will have landmark cases
Know GBO, GPO, etc.
Census, reps, voting, change 10 years, 1 person:1 vote,
Baker vs. Carr
PAC – what it is, how much PAC can give (5000) and individual citizen (2000)
Iron Jaw Angels: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, 19th Amendment
The First Amendment protects the right of petition, press and speech.
After gaining independence from Great Britain, the states first established strong
protections for individual rights in the new Federal Constitution of 1789.
In discussing individual rights, the role of the courts would include all of the following:
“watchdogs,” protectors of minorities, interpreters of the law.
Citizens may believe what they choose but actions that the government feels are harmful to society or that violate criminal laws can be regulated in accordance with the free exercise clause.
Basic individual rights under our Bill of Rights are extended with a few exceptions to all persons in the US.
Members of the press must be careful not to libel someone in a news article. Libel is to write false or damaging statements about someone.
The “clear and present danger” theory was developed by Justice Oliver Wendell and states danger must be real and immediate.
Malicious defamation of character through deliberate lying on a live TV talk show would be an example of slander.
Gregory v. Chicago, USSC rules in favor of the right to assembly.
In 1919, the USSC ruling of Schenck v. US found that Schenck’s leaflets presented a threat to war effort.
Slander and libel are misrepresentations such as slander is spoken and libel is written.
1. Protects the right of petition, press and speech.
2. The Constitution states that states had the right to have an armed militia. Today, citizens may carry guns from their homes to their cars as extensions of their rights.
3. States that citizens don’t have to provide housing to soldiers.
4. A person’s home is his or her castle and is given certain protections from unreasonable search and seizure from the police.
5. A defendant cannot be forced to testify against him or herself.
6. Protections provided for speedy and public trials and assures the accused the right to have witnesses and confront accusers.
7. Guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil cases.
8. Protection against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
9. Provides for personal privacy and confidentiality of medical, academic and credit records.
10. States whatever powers have not been given to the federal government belong to the state government.
Congress has recently passed the law which affects gun purchases. The law is the Brady Bill.
In order to secure a search warrant, the person issuing the warrant must be convinced the basis for issuing it is probable cause.
If you are stopped while running from a jewelry store in which the alarm is ringing, the police may search your pockets and the contents may be used as evidence.
A valid search warrant must include the name of the person, correct address, and specific object of search.
States had to rewrite their laws on capital punishment due to the USSC decision in Furman v. Georgia.
At the present time, a person has the right to expect the period from arrest to trial to be 100 days.
The 14th Amendment contains the due process and equal protection.
Because of Miranda v. Arizona, suspect may be told you have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you, you have the right to have an attorney, you can end questioning at any time.
Under normal circumstances, warrants are signed by judges.
Suspects who are without funds to hire an attorney must be provided with a lawyer at public expensive because of USSC decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.
If a person repeatedly takes the Fifth, the legal assumption is that the person is innocent.
The wife or husband of the accused, the accused and a priest who has heard information through confession can take the fifth.
A defendant’s rights include the right to answer his or her accusers, present his or her own witnesses, and to be provided with an attorney if necessary.
Capital punishment, overcrowded prisons and violence on inmates are examples of cruel and unusual punishment.
Equal protection applies to act committed by officials, each person being treated fairly, recognition of rights regardless of race, color or sex.
Women were given the right to vote with the 19th Amendment.
Persons between 18 and 21 years old were given the right to vote with the 26th Amendment.
Change of venue may be granted by a judge if necessary to have a fair trial.
A hung jury is when the jury’s decision results in a tie. The accused is let free but may be retried.
Parents cannot get grades from colleges even if they pay for tuition.
Incorporation – A process that extended the protections of the Bill of Rights and offered protection from actions by the states or local governments
Bill of Rights – First Ten Amendments to the Constitution
Parochial school – A school operated by a church or religious group
Fourteenth Amendment – Offering due process and equal protection
Establishment clause – Often referring to as offering “separation of church and state”
Secular – non-religious
Picketing – parading in front of an establishment
Holocaust – Mass extermination of the Jews in WWII
Free Exercise clause – The right to practice your religion within the law
Seditious speech – Urging the overthrow or uprising against a government
A person treating the US flag contemptuously is protected by the right to exercise free speech.
Charles T. Schenck was convicted in 1919 for passing out draft resistance circulars to young men.
When US Nazis sought to parade in Skokie, Illinois, where many Jews lived, the courts upheld their right to parade peacefully.
The right of free expression, although not absolute, enjoys a higher status than the other rights granted by the US Constitution. This is known as preferred position.
Written defamation of character is known as libel.
Slander differs from libel in referring to spoken statements.
The 1973 Supreme Court definition of obscenity denies free-speech protection to materials or activities that lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
One form of symbolic speech that is controversial but is permitted by the USSC is flag burning.
Censorship of information before it is published is called prior restraint.
The freedom of speech, the press and assembly are protected under the Bill of Rights.
Newspaper reporters may be protected by shield laws.
If you advocate revolution, you will be punished for sedition.
The court has held that prior restraint is permitted only for purposes of national security.
In certain situations a judge may bar the press from publishing certain types of information about a case. This is known as a gag order.
Movies, radio and television have the same freedoms as other forms of the press under the First Amendment.