Rights to Life, Liberty, Property
• The framers of the Constitution attached
great importance to “life, liberty, and
property.”
• Found in the Fifth Amendment, extending due
process protection to individuals relative to the
national government.
• Also found in the Fourteenth Amendment,
applying due process to the states.
• These protections are extended to both citizens
and aliens, including legal and undocumented
immigrants.
Property Rights
• Constitutional Protection of Property
• The right to own, use, rent, invest in, buy,
and sell property (land, house, and other
tangible possessions)
• In many cases, including the right to keep
a job
Property Rights
• Major intention of the framers of the
Constitution
• Establish a government strong enough to
protect people’s rights to use and enjoy
their property
• Limit government so it could not endanger
those rights.
•Contract Clause
•Police Powers
Property Rights
• What Happens When the Government Takes
Our Property?
• Eminent Domain
• Regulatory Taking
Due Process Rights
Established rules and regulations that restrain
people in government who exercise power.
•Procedural Due Process – Constitutional
requirement that government proceed by
proper methods; places limits on how
governmental power may be exercised.
•Substantive Due Process - Constitutional
requirement that government act reasonably
and that the substance of the laws
themselves be fair and reasonable; places
limits on what a government may do.
The fifth and fourteenth
Amendments provide that no
individual shall be deprived of ____,
_________, and _____without due
process of law.
a. health, wealth, or education
b. life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness
c. life, liberty, or property
d. life, limb, or freedom
The provision against being tried
twice for the same offense is found in
which Amendment?
a. One
b. Four
c. Five
d. Eight
The foremost civil liberty in the
original Constitution is _____.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Writ of habeas corpus
Ex post facto prohibition
Freedom of speech
Right to bear arms
_______ gives defendants access to
federal courts to argue that their
rights have been violated in state
courts.
a. Double jeopardy
b. Habeas corpus
c. An ex post facto law
d. The standard of reasonableness
Established rules and regulations
that restrain those who exercise
governmental power are termed
a. civil rights
b. civil liberties
c. due process
d. law
Procedural due process refers to the
a. appropriate procedures for writing
laws.
b. methods by which a law is enforced.
c. limitations on what a government may
do.
d. idea that unreasonable laws are
unconstitutional.
Substantive due process refers to the
a. appropriate procedures for writing
laws.
b. methods by which a law is enforced.
c. limitations on what a government may
do.
d. idea that unreasonable laws are
unconstitutional.
Privacy Rights
Never explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, but
one that the Court, legal scholars, and sensible people
all proclaim exists from the First, Third, Fourth,
Fifth, and Ninth Amendments.
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) - Personal privacy recognized as a
constitutional right
Abortion Rights
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
Stenberg v. Carhart (2000)
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Sexual Orientation Rights
(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Rights to privacy are associated with
a. procedural due process.
b. substantive due process.
c. the First Amendment to the Constitution.
d. the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes
Freedom from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
Fourth Amendment
Exceptions:
Terry v. Ohio (1968)
• Protects people, not places
Border searches
• Search warrants
USA PATRIOT Act (2001)
• Probable cause
• The Exclusionary Rule
• The Right to Remain Silent
• The Miranda Warning
Fair Trial Procedures
• Grand jury
• Indictment
• The Right to Counsel
• Plea bargain
• Petit jury
Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes
• Impartial jury
• Peremptory
challenges
• Appeals
• Double jeopardy
•Sentencing and Punishment
•Three Strikes
•Appeals and Double Jeopardy
•The Death Penalty
1960s-1970s: Ten-year moratorium
Reinstated 1976
Growing concerns
•Torture
The Death Penalty Today
• 36 states allow the death penalty.
• Time Limits for Death Row Appeals
• The 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act
• limits appeals from
death row.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The state that leads the nation in the
number of executions in recent years
is
a. Texas
b. Florida
c. Virginia
d. Massachusetts
The process of holding someone over
for trial is known as _____.
a.
Indictment
b.
Double jeopardy
c.
Procedural due process
d.
Plea bargain
The U.S. Supreme Court has
a. eliminated the death penalty.
b. mandated that every state have the
death penalty.
c. required that states that apply the
death penalty consider aggravating and
mitigating circumstances.
d. significantly increased the
opportunities to appeal to the Supreme
Court in such cases.
The States and the Death Penalty
Methods of Execution
The Death Penalty on Trial - Executions in the U.S.
How Just Is Our System of Justice?
•Too Many Loopholes?
•Too Discriminatory?
•Too Unreliable?
•Unfair to Minorities?
Previous narrowing of the Fourth
Amendment is exemplified by which of the
following
a. sobriety checkpoints
b. drug testing
c. a relaxation in the definition of a “speedy
trial”
d. both a and b
The Supreme Court and Civil Liberties
The Supreme Court continues to play a
prominent role in developing public
policy
• to protect the rights of the accused
• to guarantee that the public is
protected against those who break the
laws
Second Amendment
 Protects right to bear arms.
 Written to protect state militias.
 Few Supreme Court decisions have discussed issues.
 Congressional regulation more frequent.
 Citizens’ right reaffirmed in D.C. v. Heller (2008).
Fourth Amendment
 First of the due process rights.
 Protects against unfair searches and seizures.
 Probable cause required to issue a warrant.
 May search person, plain view, anything in control.
 No warrant needed with reasonable suspicion.
 New issues include cars, borders, and drug tests.
Fifth Amendment
 Prevents coerced confessions
compulsory self-incrimination and double
jeopardy.
 Miranda v. Arizona (1966) is landmark
case.
 Miranda rights inform suspects of right to
silence.
Exclusionary Rule
 Derived from Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
 Bars use of illegally seized evidence at trial.
 Established largely in Mapp v. Ohio (1961).
 Growing number of “good faith exceptions.”
 Video Recording of Interrogations.
 In the future, such a procedure might satisfy Fifth Amendment
requirements.
 These include a “public safety” exception, a rule that illegal
confessions need not bar a conviction if other evidence is
strong, and that suspects must claim their rights unequivocally.
Sixth Amendment
 Protects right to counsel and jury trial in criminal cases.
 Informed of charges
 Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) sets precedent for counsel.
 Trial should be speedy and public.
 Impartial jury by one’s peers
 Jury selection has been subject of much debate.
 In past, African Americans and women were excluded.
Eighth Amendment
 Reasonable bail
 Protects against cruel and unusual punishment.
 Most common application is the death penalty.
 Briefly unconstitutional for a period in 1970s.
 Used at varying rates and forms in different states.
 Minors and mentally retarded are excluded.
 Growth of innocence projects and DNA evidence.
 2008 case upholds constitutionality of lethal injection.
Right to Privacy
 Created by the courts from penumbras of constitution.
 Applied first to contraception.
 Extended to abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973).
 Also applied in some homosexual rights cases.
 Right to die movement also uses right to privacy.
 Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1997)
 Physician–Assisted Suicide
Civil Liberties in an Age of Terror
 Balance between national security and civil liberties
 Virtually all civil liberties have been affected.
 USA Patriot Act (2001) and Military Commissions Act.
 Place limitations on free speech rights.
 Increase law enforcement’s search capabilities.
 Attempt to deny habeas corpus rights to defendants.
Maintaining Civil Liberties
• Interrogation Methods The USA Patriot Act
• Renditions
• Secret Prisons
Privacy Rights v. Security Issues
• Privacy rights have taken on particular
importance since September 11, 2001.
Protecting Our Civil Liberties in an Age of Terror:
Whose Responsibility?
Evaluate the roles of institutions and the people in
protecting civil liberties.
The dilemma in an age of terror is the
balance between ____.
a. Civil rights and civil liberties
b. National security and civil liberties
c. National security and civil rights
d. None of the above