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Civil Rights and Constitutional Law

Civil Rights and Constitutional Law. Constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees basic rights to citizens of the US Protects from federal, state, and local governments. Immigrants and aliens.

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Civil Rights and Constitutional Law

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  1. Civil Rights and Constitutional Law

  2. Constitutional rights • The Bill of Rights guarantees basic rights to citizens of the US • Protects from federal, state, and local governments

  3. Immigrants and aliens • Immigrants come to a new country intending to live there permanently; aliens live in a country where they are not citizens • 5 categories: • Resident aliens • Nonresident aliens • Enemy aliens • Refugees • Illegal aliens • Protections of the BOR apply to immigrants and citizens

  4. National citizenship • Citizens of the US have rights, responsibilities, and duties • The founders assumed the states would decide who was a citizen • Citizenship came to both a national and state dimension • 2 types of citizens: • By birth • By natuarlization

  5. Citizenship • Birth • Citizens by the “law of the soil” are born in the US or its territories • Children born to a parent who is a US citizen are also citizens by the “law of blood,” including children born in another country of American parents • Naturalization • Naturalized citizens have most of the rights and privileges of native-born citizens. • Qualifications are established by Congress

  6. Responsibilities of Citizens • Responsible citizens: • Need to know about the laws that govern society • Participate in political life

  7. Protections from Government • Search and Seizures • Accused persons have protected rights • Today, most searches are done with a court warrant • 1914 exclusionary rule restricts the use of illegally obtained evidence • Guarantee of Counsel • 6th amendment guarantees the right to an attorney • State and federal courts appoint attorneys for defendants that cannot afford their own

  8. Protections from GOvernment • Self-Incrimination • 5th amendment protects witnesses before grand juries and congressional investigating committees • Also protects against forced or coerced confessions • Miranda rights falls under this amendment • Double Jeopardy • Cannot be tried for the same crime twice • Cruel and Unusual Punishment • 8th amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishment • Use of death penalty is still a controversy

  9. Equal Protection • 14th & 15th amendments require that all people are entitled to equal rights and equal protection of law • The Supreme Court has developed guidelines for deciding when state laws may violate the equal protection clause • State laws that violate fundamental rights (the right to vote and 1st amendment rights) are unconstitutional

  10. The struggle for equal rights • For nearly a century after the 14th amendment was adopted, the courts upheld discrimination and segregation against African Americans • Plessyvs Ferguson- “separate but equal” justified segregation • Brown vs BOE-overturned “separate but equal” and desegregated public schools • De jure-segregation by law • De facto-segregation in practice

  11. Civil rights act of 1964 • Barred discrimination in public accomodations engaged in interstate commerce, and prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds or race, color, religion, national origin, and sex • Was passed using various conventional and unconventional acts • Helped lead to the American’s with Disabilities Act

  12. Equal opportunity or outcomes? • Equal opportunity-when everyone has the opportunity to compete for things like jobs and admission to educational institutions • Equal outcomes-the awards of competition are spread equally across all sectors of society, including women, minorities and the disabled

  13. Affirmative action • 1960s programs that gave preference to minorities, women, or the physically challenged in hiring and promotions, government contracts, admission to schools, and training programs • Most affirmative-action programs are required by federal government regulations or court decisions; others are voluntary efforts • Outside of higher education, the constitutional status of affirmative action is unclear; the Court has struck down as many programs as it has upheld

  14. Discrimination against women • New challenges against discrimination toward women have been raised • The Supreme Court held that past laws discriminating against women did not violate the equal protection clause • Since the Reed case in 1971, the Court has allowed some laws based on gender classification, but has declared others unconstitutional

  15. Questions • Should the 14th amendment be read to guarantee equal opportunity or equal outcomes? • Can effective equal protection rights be guaranteed to individuals or must these guarantees be based on group membership? • How has the entrance of large numbers of women in the workforce changed our understanding of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment?

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