The United States
Bill of Rights
Michael Thurston
Winslow High School
Unit Topics
Essential Questions About Our Rights
1)
Why does the 1st Amendment limit the government’s power over
religion?
2)
How does the 1st Amendment protect freedom of expression?
3)
How does the 1st Amendment protect freedom of assembly, petition, and
association?
4)
What exactly does the 2nd Amendment mean?
5)
What is the importance of procedural due process?
6)
How do the 4th and 5th Amendments protect us against unreasonable law
enforcement procedures?
7)
How do the 5th through 8th Amendments protect our rights within the
judicial system?
st
1
The Amendment &
The Establishment
Clause
Michael Thurston
Winslow High School
Two Religious Clauses
• Free Exercise Clause
• Establishment Clause
• What did the framers
believe about separation of
church and state?
• How does the 1st
Amendment prohibit state
establishment of religion?
Interpreting the Establishment
Clause
•
Area of agreement:
•
NO OFFICIAL RELIGION!
•
Area of disagreement:
•
HOW FAR DOES THAT GO?
•
Three ways to look at the
establishment clause:
•
Broad interpretation
•
Narrow interpretation
•
Literal interpretation
Critical Thinking Exercise
Cases
•
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
• “Lemon Test” – to be Constitutional:
1)
2)
3)
It must have a secular purpose
It must neither promote or interfere with religion
Cannot cause an excessive entanglement of government & religion
•
Zorach v. Clauson (1952)
•
Eagle v. Vitae (1962)
•
Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)
Free Exercise Clause
• What does it mean?
• Two parts to freedom of
religion:
1) Freedom to believe
2) Freedom to practice
Conflicting Clauses
• Establishment v. Free
Exercise
• Consider the following:
• Armed forces chaplains
• Prison chaplains
• Jewish students
• Equal Access Act
Balancing Free Exercise with
State Interest
• SCOTUS has determined
through many cases that free
exercise can be limited – if
there is a compelling state
interest:
• Public good vs. individual
right
• Blood transfusions
• Saluting the flag
• Marijuana
st
1
Amendment
Freedom of Expression
Michael Thurston
Winslow High School
What Makes Freedom of
Expression So Important?
I.
Promotes individual growth &
dignity
II.
Important for the advancement
of knowledge
III. Necessary in a democracy
IV. Helps bring peaceful social
change
V.
Essential in the protection of
individual rights.
Limits to Expression
1.
Time, place, and manner restrictions
2.
Hate speech
3.
Clear and present danger
4.
Libel, slander, defamation
5.
“Fighting words”
6.
Incitement of illegal activity
7.
Commercial speech
8.
Obscene / lewd / offensive
Question 1: Falsely shouting
“Fire!” in a crowded theater
Question 2: Burning the
American flag
Question 3: Burning a cross
Question 4: Calling for the
overthrow of the government
Question 5: Punishing oncampus speech
Question 6: Punishing offcampus speech
Question 7: Banning hate groups
from holding rallies/demonstrations
Assembly, Association,
Petition
• Importance
• Democracy works best when
there is dissent
• Must be peaceable and on
public property
• Government cannot
discriminate
• Government can limit with
a compelling reason (could
you march through the halls
of this public school while
in session?)
• Association
The 2nd Amendment is
Incorporated
• What does it say –
what does that mean?
• DC v Heller (2008)
• McDonald v Chicago
(2010)
• Restrictions?
The Importance of Procedural
Due Process
• Substantive v. Procedural
• Historical background
• Very important in an
adversary legal system
• Where do we find
procedural protections?
• 4,5,6,8 = American Rule of
Law
The
th
4
Amendment
•
The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized.
•
Probable cause: A fair probability
that contraband or evidence of a
crime will be found in a particular
place. With the facts at hand,
would a reasonable person believe
evidence of a crime would be
located there?
•
Privacy?
School Searches
•
Loco parentis
•
New Jersey v. T.L.O
•
School searches based on
reasonable suspicion –
inception and scope must be
reasonable
•
What is allowed with
reasonable suspicion?




Lockers/containers
Vehicles
Persons
Interviewing
The Exclusionary Rule
• “The fruit of the poisonous tree
is also poisonous.”
• Tree = illegal search
• Fruit = evidence obtained
through the illegal search
• Why?
• To deter police misconduct
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Continuum of Certainty
• 0%
No information
•
Hunch
•
Reasonable Suspicion
• 50%
Probable Cause
•
Preponderance of the Evidence
• 100%
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Exceptions to the Search
Warrant Requirement
• Incident to arrest
• Stop & frisk
• Consent search
• Plain view/touch
• Vehicle
• Exigent circumstances / hot
pursuit
• Border
1. Incident to Arrest
2. Stop and Frisk
3. Consent Search
4. Plain View/Touch
5. Vehicle
6. Exigent Circumstances /
Hot Pursuit
7. Border
The Case of Billy Greenwood
The Billy Greenwood
Decision
• By a 6-2 vote (Justice Kennedy took no part in the case), the
Court held that under the Fourth Amendment, no warrant was
necessary to search the trash because Greenwood had no
reasonable expectation of privacy. Although Greenwood had
hidden the trash from view by using opaque plastic bags and
expected it to be on the street only a short time before it would
be taken to the dump, the Court believed it to be “common
knowledge” that garbage at the side of the street is “readily
accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other
members of the public.” Moreover, Greenwood had left the
trash there expressly so that the trash collector, a stranger, could
take it. Quoting Katz v. United States, the court concluded that
“what a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his
own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment
protection.”
The
th
5
Amendment
•
Self-incrimination
•
Miranda v. Arizona
•
Limitations:
• Personal right
• Immunity
•
Grand Jury
•
Double jeopardy
•
Due process
•
“Takings” clause
th
6
Amendment
• 6th Amendment
• Procedural due process
• All incorporated through 14th
• Speedy trial
• Public trial
• Impartial Jury
• Trial location
• Information on charges
• Confronting witnesses
• Favorable witnesses
• Assistance of counsel
th
8
amendment
• 8th Amendment
• Limits the judiciary and legislatures
• Right to bail
• No excessive fines
• No “cruel and unusual” punishment