Civil Liberties
“Your rights as Americans”
Founding Documents
• Declaration of Independence - “We hold
these truths to be self-evident; that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.”
• Constitution – framers believed in natural
rights
Writ of Habeas Corpus
• Art. 1, Sec. 9
• “Produce the body”
• Requires government officials to present a
prisoner in court and to explain to the
judge why the person is being held
Ex Post Facto Laws
• “after the fact”
• Being charged for committing a crime, that
wasn’t a crime when the person committed
the action
Bills of Attainder
• Legislative act that punishes an individual
without judicial trial
• Court should decide guilt, not Congress
Bill of Rights
1. Free speech, press, assembly, petition,
religion
2. Right to bear arms
3. Prohibits quartering soldiers
4. Restricts illegal search and seizures
5. Provides grand juries, restricts eminent
domain (gov can’t take private property
unless compensation), prohibits forced
self-incrimination, double jeopardy (can’t
be charged for the same crime twice)
Bill of Rights
6. Outlines criminal court procedure
7. Trial by jury
8. Prevent excessive bail and cruel and
unusual punishment
9. Amendments 1-8 do not necessarily
include all possible rights of the people
10. Reserves for the states any powers not
delegated to Fed. Gov by Constitution
14th Amendment
• “privileges and immunities” – Constitution
protects all citizens
• Due process – prohibits abuse of life,
liberty, or property of any citizen, state
rights were subordinate to Fed rights
• Equal protection clause – Constitution
applies to all citizens equally
Judicial Review
• Marbury v. Madison
• The power of the Supreme Court to judge
the constitutionality of a law
Legislative Action
• Sometimes laws can guarantee rights
• Ex. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Religion
• “Establishment” clause – prohibits the
gov’t from establishing an official church
• “Free exercise” clause – allows people to
worship as they please
Free Speech
• DOES NOT mean that you can “say
anything you want”… but pretty close
Restrictions
• Threat to national security
• Libel – false written statement attacking
someone’s character, with intent to harm
• Obscenity – not protected, hard to define –
Ex. Pornographic material
• Symbolic speech – action to convey a
message
Right to Privacy
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Not in the Constitution
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Roe v. Wade (1971)
Yahoo and Google – search and e-mails?
Due Process
• 5th and 14th Amendment
• Forbids national AND state gov to “deny
any person life, liberty, or property without
due process of law.”
• Procedural – fair trial
• Substantive – fundamental fairness
Search and Seizure
• 4th Amendment
• Freedom from “unreasonable search and
seizure”
• Prevent police abuse
• Ex. Mapp v. Ohio
Self-incrimination
• 5th Amendment
• No one “shall be compelled to be a
witness against himself.”
• Miranda v. Arizona 1966
Right v. Right
• Most cases are not simple
• They often pit two rights against each other
• Ex. – freedom of press v. national security