Civil liberties, such as freedom of speech or religion, are outside the jurisdiction of the government.

• Civil liberties are also known as natural / unalienable rights

• They were added through the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution).

Civil Rights are a set of rights centered around the concept of equal treatment that the government is obligated to protect. They are created by the government.

• They are found in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments of the Constitution.

Civil liberties are protection from the government while civil rights are protected by the government.

• Negative rights: rights that the government cannot take away from you and that take away power from the government

  • Example: Freedom of speech

• Positive rights: A right one has as an U.S. citizen

  • Example: the right to bear arms

• Anarchy: a state of society without governmental authority and where people do whatever they want.

• Tyranny: A government that severely limits / takes away one’s liberties

The founding fathers had to make sure neither of these states would occur whenever creating the government. They needed to provide as much freedom to the citizens as possible with some limitations, to not cross the line of anarchy or tyranny.

The Constitution protects the right of habeas corpus (the right to go before a judge and to be presented the charges against you).

On the other hand, it prohibits ex post facto laws (creating a law after the act / crime was committed to convict someone for it) and Bills of Attainder (putting someone in jail before a fair trial).

The Bill of Rights

A good majority (first to eighth) amendments were made because these rights were not ones they had during colonial times and were often violated by the British.

The Bill of Rights was made to limit the federal government, not the state governments. Amendments four to eight are all related to criminal process.

First amendment

The first amendment is free exercise of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. It also allows people to establish religions.

Second amendment

The second amendment protects the right of citizens to own weapons (guns).

Third amendment

The third amendment prohibits the involuntary quartering of soldiers in a person’s home during peacetime

Fourth amendment

The fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizures

• In the modern day, this protects the searching of cellphones, emails, cars, etc.

  • Established by Mapp vs. Ohio: Dorlee was accused of hiding a fugitive and when searching her house, found evidence of other crimes. This evidence was used against her in court, establishing the exclusionary rule.

    • Exclusionary rule: If something is not listed in the warrant, it can’t be used against someone in court if found.

Fifth amendment

The fifth amendment affirms the right to indictment by a grand jury and the right to due process. Protects against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and taking property without just compensation.

• Grand jury: A group of 16 - 23 people who meet monthly. They are given cases and they decide whether the accused needs to stand trial or not if there is not enough evidence.

• Indictment: A formal charge / accusation of crime

• Acquitted: Someone being let go because there is not enough evidence of a crime.

• Double jeopardy: Someone cannot be accused of the same crime twice if already found not guilty of a crime.

• Self incrimination: Someone cannot act as their own witness because they can contradict themselves or lie about the case. It also means that one is innocent until proven guilty.

• Due process: Fair treatment through the judicial system, requires the government to go through certain processes to convict someone.

• Taking property without just compensation means that the government cannot take away your private property for public use without compensating you for the property.

• Miranda vs. Arizona ensured that everyone has to have their charges read to them.

Sixth amendment

The sixth amendment affirms the right to a speedy and public trial for criminal prosecution, to confront witnesses, and to counsel.

• Trials cannot be private, they all have to be public to where someone has to be able to walk in and watch the trial.

  • Trials have to be held in a reasonable time (100 days within pleading ‘not guilty’).

• Trials have to be held in the same state / district held of the crime committed.

• You and your lawyer have to be told what you’re accused of.

• The prosecution has to show what people are about to testify against you in court.

• You also have the opportunity to find witnesses in your favor.

• You have the right to a lawyer.

• Gideon vs. Wainwright was the court case that guaranteed a right to a legal counsel (lawyer) to anyone accused of a crime.

Seventh amendment

The seventh amendment affirms the right to jury trials in civil suits over $20 in civil cases.

Eighth amendment

The eighth amendment prohibits excessive bail, fines and cruel and unusual punishment.

• The bail / fine given has to fit the crime, cannot be overpriced.

• The punishment given has to fit the crime.

Ninth amendment

The ninth amendment declares the enumeration of certain rights that does not limit other rights retained by the people

• Rights listed in the Bill of Rights are not the only rights the people possess and

Tenth amendment

The tenth amendment reserves the powers not granted to the national government to the states or to the people.

• Important in establishing federalism.

Eleventh amendment

The eleventh amendment declares that citizens of one state cannot sue another state in federal court.

Twelfth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, and Twenty-fifth amendments (Presidential)

All of these amendments pertain to the presidency.

The twelfth amendment allows the president to choose their vice president, instead of having the second-runner in the electoral college become the vice president.

The twentieth amendment is known as the lame duck amendment, which has the president leave office on January 20th.

The twenty-second amendment created term limits. After FDR had served four terms, they created a limit to where any person could only serve two four-year terms, or ten years (happens whenever a president dies or impeached and the vice president takes office).

The twenty-fifth amendment made the vice president the successor to the president. It also gave the vice president and the speaker of the house the power to make the president leave office if he could not handle his job anymore (presidential disability). It also created a line of succession for the presidency.

• The line of succession is:

  • Vice President (when president, will appoint a new vice president)

  • The Speaker of the House

  • The President pro tempore (high ranking senator who oversees the Senate)

  • Secretary of the oldest cabinet position (order of creation)

    • Secretary of state

    • Secretary of defense

    • Secretary of the treasury

    • Attorney general

Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments (Civil War)

After the civil war, the thirteenth amendment was added, which ended slavery. The fourteenth amendment was then added, which was considered one of the most important amendments. The fourteenth amendment made all people in the United States automatically citizens and prevented states from encroaching on the natural rights of citizens.

• This allowed former slaves to freely travel between states and demanded that they protect the natural rights of the former slaves.

• The fourteenth amendment incorporated the Bill of Rights to the states and made them responsible to follow the Bill of Rights.

The South was made up of Democrats at the time, and the North was made up of Republicans. After the Civil War, a group of Republicans known as Radical Republicans wanted to radically reform the South before they could be let back into the country, and got the thirteenth amendment signed.

• Selective incorporation: The ability for the government to prevent states from enacting laws because of landmark court cases attached to them that ensure those rights be protected.

The fifteenth amendment gave voting rights to African American males.

Seventeenth and Twenty-seventh amendments (Senators)

The seventeenth amendment allowed direct election of Senators by the people.

The twenty-seventh amendment decided that members of Congress cannot get the perks of pay raises until their next term.

Eighteenth and Twenty-first amendments (Prohibition)

The eighteenth amendment is the prohibition amendment. It prohibited the sale, manufacture, and distribution of alcohol.

The twenty-first amendment repealed the eighteenth amendment.

The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth amendments (Suffrage)

The fifteenth amendment granted African American males the right to vote.

The nineteenth amendment granted women the right to vote.

The twenty-third amendment gave the citizens of Washington DC the right to vote in elections (because they technically don’t live in a state, but rather, a district) and gave the district three electoral college votes.

The twenty-fourth amendment ended poll taxes.

The twenty-sixth amendment gave 18 - 20 year olds the right to vote.

The Sixteenth amendment (Income tax)

The sixteenth amendment established an income tax. If someone works-- the federal government can tax a cut of your check based on your income. This amendment also named April 15th as tax day.

The income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that you are taxed more depending on how much money you make.

First amendment

Freedom of speech can be restricted by laws, such as the clear and present danger test. With this test, the state has to prove there is a high likelihood that the speech would lead to a danger that Congress has the right to protect.

• The court case associated with it is Brandenburg v. Ohio

Fighting words are phrases that may instigate a fight between people.

Hate speech is speech that attacks or demeans a group of people (EG: queer people, poc, etc).

Symbolic speech is speech that is clearly meant to convey a message (EG: Burning the US flag) is protected under the first amendment.

Symbolic speech, such as wearing armbands, that is not verbally communicated is generally allowed.

Regulation of time, place, and manner of speech is generally valid as long as it is neutral

• National socialist party of America v. Village of Skokie

Governors can censor items before they are published through prior restraint, but this is rarely allowed.

The government can punish people after it has been published.

• Libel: Publishing false and damaging statements about another.

• Seditious libel: conduct or language that incites rebellion against the authority o a state

• Slander: The legal term for defamation of character that is spoken.

The Supreme Court test for determining whether something is obscene using the Miller test.

• To the average test, applying contemporary community standards as established by the relevant state, the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient (sexual) image.

Civil liberties can conflict with civil rights.

SCOTUS rulings indicate that states can enforce anti discrimination laws as long as they do not engage in speech-related or expressive activities.

Free exercise clause

States are generally free to pass laws that restrict religious practices as long as the laws have a valid secular (nonreligious) purpose

Reynolds v. United States