Amendment Study Guide
1st
amendment
 Is part of the Bill of Rights
 Guarantees the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the
freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government.
 Tinker v. Des Moines School District, was a Supreme Court Case where several students
planned to wear black armbands to school to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War. School officials adopted a no-armband rule (even though they allowed students to
wear other symbols). The students nonetheless wore the armbands to school. School
officials suspended them for violating school policy.
 The core of all civil rights and civil liberties law in the United States.
 Valentine v. Chrestensen was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States
ruled that commercial speech is not protected under the First Amendment
 In the court case, Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court applied the First Amendment
to each state, which was done through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment
4th amendment
 Part of Bill of Rights
 Prohibits search and seizure
 Protects citizens from unreasonable harassment by the police. Police officers have no
right to arrest people or to search through their personal property without first receiving a
warrant
 In the Delaware v. Prouse case, the Supreme Court ruled that the police may not stop an
automobile and detain the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration
of the automobile.
 Few exceptions are In the United States v. Martinez-Fuerte the Supreme Court allowed
discretionless immigration checkpoints and the Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz
case where the Supreme Court allowed discretionless sobriety checkpoints.
Fifth Amendment –
 Contains three important Protections for people accused of crimes:
 No one can be tried for a serious crime unless grand jury declares there is enough
evidence to justify a trial.
 A person who is found innocent of a crime may not be tried again for the same offense;
prevent harassment (Double Jeopardy).
 No one may be forced to testify against him or herself (Self Incrimination).
 Another part of the amendment states that “private property [cannot] be taken for public
use, without just compensation.” (Just Compensation Clause & Due Process)
 Court Cases:
 Hiibel vs. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada (Self-Incrimination) – This court case
declared that if an officer has reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or
will be committed by a person, they must identify themselves or will risk being charged
with obstructing an officer in discharging his or her duty.
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Harry Aleman vs. Judges of the Criminal Division, Circuit Court of Cook County,
Illinois, et al.(Double Jeopardy) – Defendant had bribed the judge into not convicting
him. When this was discovered, a mistrial was declared and did not violate the Double
Jeopardy clause because the bribery prevented him from ever being in Double Jeopardy
in the first place.
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6 Amendment
 Part of the Bill of Rights that guaranteed the right to a speedy, impartial trial and an
impartial jury. It also secures the right to counsel and confront witnesses.
 Supreme Court has applied the protection of this amendment to the states through the
Due Process clause of the 14th amendment
 Barker v. Wingo- Supreme Court laid down a four part case-by-case balancing test for
determining whether the defendant’s speedy trial right has been violated in the case .The
four factors are length of delay, reason delay, time and manner in which the defendant
has asserted his/her right, and degree of prejudice to the defendant which the delay has
caused
 Gideon v. Wainwright- the 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that anyone accused of
a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a
right to a lawyer
7th amendment
 Part of Bill of Rights
 guaranteed trial by jury in certain civil cases
 Under the current Federal Rules of Civil Procedure the amount, instead of 20 dollars, in
dispute in diversity cases must exceed $75,000 USD in order for the case to be heard in
federal court.
 In Slocum v. New York Insurance Co. (1913), the Supreme Court upheld the ReExamination Clause which forbids any court from reexamining or overturning any factual
determinations made by a jury, unless the factual determinations are clearly erroneous.
Eighth Amendment
 “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.”
 Summary: Prohibits excessive bail, and cannot undermine the accused’s status in society.
 Court Cases:
 United States v. Salerno(Excessive Bail Clause)– In this court case it was decided that if
an individual is considered too dangerous to be released back into the public, he or she
may not be able to post bail (Bail Reform Act). Anthony Salerno, the convicted,
challenged the government however the bail reform act clause does not always allow for
bail in each case also the court rulings were not deemed excessive.
 United States v. Bajakajian (Excessive Fine Clause) – When Hosep Bajakajian tried to
leave the United States with over $300,000 in cash he was fined (excessively) for not
reporting to authorities that he was leaving the United States with over $10,000. He was
ordered to forfeit all his money because Code, 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(1) which stated that the
crime he committed was specific and that any property must be relinquished to the U.S.
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The ruling was overturned 4 years later. It was also the only court case to ever concerning
the excessive fine clause to be reversed.
Weems v. United States( Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause) – When Paul Weems
(an officer of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation in the Philippines) was
convicted of falsifying documents in order to deceive the U.S. government he was
convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor and confinement as
punishment. When He challenged the government, the court agreed and declared a
“principle of proportionality” which set the crime equal to the punishment.
9th Amendment
 Powers not delegated to the national government or denied to the states ate reserved for
the states or the people
 U. S. Public Workers v. Mitchell- explained that the 9th Amendment has generally been
regarded by the courts as negating any expansion of governmental power on account of
the enumeration of rights in the Constitution, but the Amendment has not been regarded
as further limiting governmental power.
 Roe v. Wade- the federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that a
state law prohibiting abortion in all instances except to save the life of the mother
violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the Ninth Amendment
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10 amendment
 Part of Bill of Rights
 Any powers not explicitly given to the federal government can be assumed to belong to
the states, or directly to the people.
 This limits the powers of the Federal Government
 limits the ability of the federal government to use state governments as an instrument of
the national government, as held in Printz v. United States, in which the Supreme Court
made a ruling that established the unconstitutionality of certain interim provisions
 The Court rarely declares laws unconstitutional for violating the Tenth Amendment.
In New York v. United States the Supreme Court invalidated a portion of a federal law
for violating the Tenth Amendment
 Several states have introduced various resolutions and legislation in protest to federal
actions. In Cooper v. Aaron, the Supreme Court held that federal law prevails over state
law due to the operation of the Supremacy Clause
Twelfth Amendment
 This Amendment States:
 Separate ballots are to be used for President and Vice President
 Candidates with the greatest number of votes for each office will be elected if that
number constitutes a majority of the total electors.
 House of Representatives vote from among three highest candidates if majority for the
president is lacking.
 Senate shall vote by state from the two top candidates if majority for Vice President is
lacking.

The Vice president must meet the same constitutional requirements as provided for the
president.
Thirteenth Amendment “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
 Summary: Involuntary servitude (slavery) except as a crime is allowed.
 The Thirteenth Amendment was passed on January 31, 1865 and ratified by the states in
December 6, 1865. Effectively ended and abolished slavery in the United States.
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14 Amendment
 One of the Reconstruction amendments that grants citizenship rights
 Citizenship clause- provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Supreme
Court’s ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford which held that black people could not be
citizens of the United States
 Due Process Clause- prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life,
liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness
 Equal Protection Clause- requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to
all people within its jurisdiction. This clause was the basis for Brown v. Board of
Education, the Supreme Court decision that precipitated the dismantling of racial
segregation in United States’ education.
 Elk v. Wilkins- the citizenship clause's meaning was tested regarding whether birth in the
United States automatically extended national citizenship. The Supreme Court held that
Native Americans who voluntarily quit their tribes did not automatically gain national
citizenship.
 United States v. Wong Kim Ark- The Supreme Court held that under the Fourteenth
Amendment a man born within the United States to Chinese citizens who have a
permanent domicile and residence in the United States and are carrying on business in the
United States—and whose parents were not employed in a diplomatic or other official
capacity by a foreign power—was a citizen of the United States
 Allgeyer v. Louisiana- court interpreted the Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment as
substantive protection to private contracts and thus prohibiting a variety of social and
economic regulation, under what was called a “freedom of contract.”
 Plessy v. Ferguson- Supreme Court held that the states could impose segregation so long
as they provided similar facilities
 Brown v. Board of Education- outlawed segregation
 Wesberry v. Sanders and Reynolds v. Sims- Supreme Court interpreted the Equal
Protection Clause as requiring the states to apportion their congressional districts and
state legislative seats according to “one man, one vote.”
 Reed v. Reed- Supreme Court decision that ruled that laws arbitrarily requiring sex
discrimination violated the Equal Protection clause
 This amendment also includes a number of clauses dealing with the confederacy and its
officials
15th amendment
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The third and final of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Guarantee that former slaves would retain the right to vote by banning state suffrage laws
that discriminated against any group of citizens on the basis of race.
But the amendment did prohibit devices, such as literacy tests and poll taxes in which
states might use in order to keep African Americans from voting.
It wasn’t until 1966, where the court case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, found
that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th
Amendment.
The 24th amendment prohibits poll taxes in Federal and State elections.
Sixteenth Amendment
 “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever
source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to
any census or enumeration.”
 Summary: Congress has supreme power to levy individual income taxes. This was
overturned in 1895 when the Supreme Court ruled that a 2% federal flat tax on incomes
over $4000 unconstitutional and after the amendment was ratified a personal income tax
was established ,due to unpopular opinion, with rates ranging from 1 to 7 percent on
income more than $3000 for a single individual.
 Court Cases:
 Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1 (1916) – The Supreme Court ruled that
government always had the power to tax income as an expunge tax and is therefore
constitutional.
17th Amendment
 Established direct election of United States senators by popular vote. It also alters the
procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing state legislatures to permit their
governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held
 It is a Progressive amendment
 Trinsey v. Pennsylvania- ruled that the 17th amendment does not require primaries
18th amendment
 The manufacture, sale of transportation of alcohol was prohibited
 It’s Progressive amendment
 it effectively resulted in a public demand for illegal alcohol, making criminals of
producers and consumers
 National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, vetoed by Wilson but
overridden by the House, was enacted to carry out the intent of the Eighteenth
Amendment
 The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol
by volume and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states that had such
legislation.
 The Blaine Act initiated the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment
 is repealed by the 21st amendment
19th Amendment
 Guarantees all American women the right to vote. Beginning in the 1800s, women
organized, petitioned, and picketed to win the right to vote but it took them decades to
accomplish their goal.
 Was passed in 1920.
 It overruled Minor v. Happersett, which ruled that the 14th amendment did not apply to
women.
 Anthony and Stanton drafted the amendment
 In Leser v. Garnett, the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was
unconstitutionally adopted.
Twenty-Second Amendment
 “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person
who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a
term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of
the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the
office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent
any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the
term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or
acting as President during the remainder of such term.”
 Summary: No person can run for president as their third term. This does not apply to
concurrent a concurrent president when this article is proposed.
 Court Cases:
 U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton – Based on the grounds that incumbency reduces voter
participation and the incumbents themselves become preoccupied with reelection rather
than their duties as representatives of the people. House of Representative terms limited
to three terms and the U.S. Senate seats limited to two terms.
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24 Amendment
 Prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal
elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax
 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections- ruled that poll taxes for state elections were
unconstitutional because they violated the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th
amendment
 Harman v. Forssenius- Supreme Court declared that for federal elections, “the poll tax is
abolished absolutely as a prerequisite to voting, and no equivalent or milder substitute
may be imposed.”
25th Amendment
 Deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a
vacancy in the office of Vice President as well as responding to Presidential disabilities
 Says that the of the President is removed from office, the Vice President will take his
place.

If there is a vacancy in Vice President, the President will nominate a new one to be
approved in Congress
Clauses
Full Faith and Credit
 Name used to refer to Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which addresses the
duties that states within the United States have to respect the “public acts, records, and
judicial proceedings of every other state.”
 According to the Supreme Court, there is a difference between the credit owed to laws as
compared to the credit owed to judgments. Judgments are generally entitles to greater
respect than laws, in other states.
 Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt- the Court said "[our precedent differentiates the credit
owed to laws (legislative measures and common law) and to judgments.”
Establishment Clause
 Part of the first amendment
 Has generally been interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by
Congress, or 2) the preference by the U.S. government of one religion over another
 Lemon v. Kurtzman- Supreme Court ruled that government may not “excessively
entangle” with religion
 Tilton v. Richardson- the Court permitted the use of public funds for the construction of
facilities in religious institutions of higher learning. It was found that there was no
"excessive entanglement" since the buildings were themselves not religious, unlike
teachers in parochial schools, and because the aid came in the form of a one-time grant,
rather than continuous assistance.
 Abington Township v. Schempp- the case involving the mandatory reading of the Lord's
Prayer in class, the Supreme Court introduced the "secular purpose" and "primary effect"
tests, which were to be used to determine compatibility with the establishment clause.
 Wallace v. Jaffree- the Supreme Court struck down an Alabama law whereby students in
public schools would observe daily a period of silence for the purpose of private prayer.
The Court did not, however, find that the moment of silence was itself unconstitutional.
Rather, it ruled that Alabama lawmakers had passed the statute solely to advance religion,
thereby violating the secular purpose test.
Advice and Consent –
 United States Constitution describing the Senate’s role in confirming presidential
appointments and ratifying treaties. The consent takes the form of a vote. Senators
often advise the president indirectly as to which potential nominees and treaty
provisions are acceptable.
Commerce Clause –
 Gives Congress power to regulate commerce internationally and within the states
Elastic Clause
 the notion that implied powers can be stretched without breaking, like a rubber band is
referred as the Elastic Clause

The Constitution authorizes Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out
the enumerated powers.
 The “Necessary and Proper Clause” of the Constitution is often referred to as the Elastic
Clause
 The clause has been paired with the Commerce Clause to provide the constitutional basis
for a wide variety of federal laws.
 Hundreds of congressional policies involve powers not specially mentioned in the
Constitution.
 In Wickard v. Filburn, the Court upheld a federal statute making it a crime for a farmer to
produce more wheat than was allowed under price controls and production controls, even
if the excess production was for the farmer's own personal consumption. The Elastic
Clause was used to justify the regulation of production and consumption
 The court in McCulloch v. Maryland held that all Federal laws need not be "absolutely
necessary" to be necessary and proper, and noted that "The clause is placed among the
powers of Congress, not among the limitations on those powers." John Marshall the
clause grants Congress no additional powers, but "simply restates the background
principle that Congress can exercise powers which are merely “incidental” to Congress’s
enumerated powers.
 United States v. Comstock was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States,
which held that the federal government has authority under the Necessary and Proper
Clause to require the civil commitment of individuals already in Federal custody.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, was upheld against a challenge that it
fell outside the enumerated powers granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Supremacy Clause
 Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, establishes the U.S. Constitution,
Federal Statutes, and U.S. Treaties as "the supreme law of the land."
 The Constitution and National laws and treaties supreme over state and local laws when
the national government is acting within its constitutional limits.
 In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Court found that if a state had the power to tax a federally
incorporated institution, then the state effectively had the power to destroy the federal
institution, thereby thwarting the intent and purpose of Congress. This would make the
states superior to the federal government. This would be inconsistent with the Supremacy
Clause, which makes federal law superior to state law. The Court therefore held that
Maryland's tax on the Bank was unconstitutional because it violated the Supremacy
Clause.
 In Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, and Cohens v. Virginia, the Supreme Court held that the
Supremacy Clause and the judicial power granted in Article III give the Supreme Court
the power to review state court decisions involving issues arising under the Constitution
and laws of the United States. This shows that the Supreme Court has the final say in
matters involving federal law, including constitutional interpretation, and can overrule
decisions by state courts.
 In Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958), the Supreme Court rejected attempts by the state
of Arkansas to nullify the Court's school desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of
Education. The Supreme Court relied on the Supremacy Clause to hold that the federal
law controlled and could not be nullified by state statutes or officials.