Civil Liberties

1. Civil Liberties Wilson 5A

2. Key Questions Who Governs To What Ends • Why do the courts play so large a role in deciding what our civil liberties should be? • How do the institutions created under the Patriot Act reduce American civil liberties? • Why not display religious symbols on government property? • If a person confesses committing a crime, why is that confession sometimes not used in court?

3. Creating a Limited Government Framers Ratifying Conventions • Whatever was not specifically allowed was assumed to be not allowed • System built in checks and balances of federal powers • Bill of Rights to place specific restrictions on federal government action • Bill of Rights did not originally apply to state government actions

4. Balancing Freedoms Civil Liberties Civil Rights • Protections the Constitution provides against the abuse of government power • Set of principles • Freedom for all • Competing rights and duties • War • Protecting certain groups against discrimination • Due process • Equal protection of the laws • Selective incorporation • Interest groups • Courts

5. Restricted Civil Liberties in War • Sedition Act of 1798 • Espionage and Sedition Act (WWI) • Smith Act (1940) • Internal Security Act of 1950 • Communist Control Act of 1954 • Patriot Act • Courts have upheld during war • Courts have relaxed for political speech

6. Cultural Conflicts • Americanism • Equated with European Protestant values • Immigration • Conflicts over protected freedoms • New ethnic, cultural, religious groups • Differences within groups • Religious displays • Bilingual education • Gay rights

7. Extending the Bill of Rights • 14th Amendment • “no state shall deprive/deny…” • Due process clause • Equal protection of the law • Supreme Court • Incorporation • Selectively to most of Bill of Rights • New rights – privacy, marriage, etc.

8. Not Incorporated • 2 – right to bear arms • 3 – quartering of troops • 5 – right to be indicted by a grand jury • 7 – right to a jury trial in civil cases • 8 – ban on excessive bail and fine

9. Speech and Security • Blackstone (English Jurist) • Free press necessary to a free society • No prior restraint – censorship • Accept consequences of print • Sedition Act (US, 1798) • Decision of juries not judges • Acquitted if proved true reporting • Jefferson pardoned federal prosecutions

10. Restriction of Speech • Preferred position – expression is highest right • Prior restraint – government censorship • Clear and present danger – only treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance; safety, war • Imminent danger – only restricts if it calls for illegal action or listeners take direct action • Neutrality – may not favor one group • Clarity – laws and standards of a permit • Least-restrictive means - alternatives

11. Speech and Liberty • Not fully protected • Libel/slander – falsely injures another person • Must prove malice • Obscenity – no redeeming social value • No comprehensive definition • Balance freedom v. decency • Local, regulatory (zoning ordinances) • Internet unregulated • Symbolic speech – illegal acts for political message • Statutes cannot make actions illegal • False advertising – truth, regulatory

12. Who is a Person? • Corporations and interest groups have First Amendment Rights • Restriction can be placed on commercial advertising • Narrowly tailored • Must serve a public interest • McCain-Feingold changed campaign financing • Limited electioneering and referring to candidates • Students have limited First Amendment Rights • Control activities fro pedagogical reasons