Ryan Chavez
Tom McNutt
Luke Irwin
Andy Crown
Constitutional Study Guide
1st Amendment:
-Consists of Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression
-Freedom of expression consists of Freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition
-Establishment Clause prohibits government from passing legislation to establish a national
religion.
-Gitlow v. New York- Supreme Court applied 1st amendment rights to every state.
2nd Amendment:
-Gives people the right to bear arms
Columbia v. Heller- Supreme court ruled that an individual can own a fire arm unconnected with
military service.
-firearms can be used for self-defense or recreation.
4th Amendment:
-Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
-Requires warrant and probable cause for searches.
-Exclusionary rule states that evidence that is obtained in violation of 4th amendment may not be
used to prosecute a suspect.
-Weeks v. United States- Affirmed the exclusionary rule.
-Silverthorn Lumber Co. v. United States- Tips cannot be used to prosecute if they are in
violation of the 4th Amendment.
5th Amendment:
-protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
-Gives right to be indicted by an impartial grand jury before being tried.
-The right to be free from multiple prosecutions for a single criminal offense.
-Gives right to remain silent.
- Self-incrimination Clause- Freedom to not testify against oneself.
-Gives the right to have personal liberties protected by due process.
-Double Jeopardy Clause- can't prosecute a defendant previously found innocent on the same
charge.
-Dickerson v. United States- Miranda decision was based on 5th amendment and could not be
overturned.
-Due Process clause- procedural-concerned with the process by which legal proceedings are
conducted. Substantive concerned with content of the law.
-Eminent Domain Clause- Government can take personal property for public use.
-Grand Jury determines whether probable cause exists.
6th Amendment:
-Gives the right to a speedy and public trial.
-Gives right to be informed of the nature of accusation.
-Right to be confronted with witnesses.
-Right to have assistance of counsel for defense.
-Supreme Court extended these protections to the states.
-Strunk v. United States- If right to speedy trial is violated conviction must be overturned.
-Sheppard v. Maxwell- Supreme Court ruled that right to a public trial is not absolute. Ruled that
a jury of 6 is sufficient and it must be impartial.
8th Amendment:
-Prohibits government from imposing excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment.
-Louisiana ex reel Frances v. Resweeber/Robinson v California- Supreme Court ruled that these
protections apply to the states as well.
-Disallowed torture, unnecessary punishment, or excessively severe punishment.
9th Amendment:
-Addresses rights of the people which are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
-Not a list of rights but rather a way to interpret the Constitution
-The Ninth 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. The U.S. Supreme
Court explained this, in U.S. Public Workers v. Mitchell "If granted power is found, necessarily
the objection of invasion of those rights, reserved by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, must
fail."
10th Amendment:
-Deems that powers not granted specifically to the states or the federal government by the
Constitution fall to the people and/or states.
-In United States v. Sprague the Supreme Court asserted that the amendment "added nothing to
the [Constitution] as originally ratified."
-Specifies intent on Constitution.
13th Amendment:
-The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary
servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
-Supreme Court ruled that the military draft was not involuntary servitude.
14th Amendment:
-Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
-Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Supreme
Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford that had 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.
-Reed v. Reed, the Supreme Court ruled that laws arbitrarily requiring sex discrimination
violated the Equal Protection Clause.
15th Amendment:
-The rights of citizens of the United States shall not be denied due to race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.
-Guinn vs. United States
-This case made the Grandfather Clause, which was still being practiced in the early 1900’s by
some states, unconstitutional.
16th Amendment:
-The amendment states: “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes,
from whatever source derived, without appointment among the several states, and without regard
to any census or enumeration.”
-It was passed by Congress on July 2, 1909 and ratified by the states on February 3, 1913,
officially making it the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
-The amendment modifies Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution.
-How it came to be: In 1909, progressives in Congress attached a provision for an income tax to
a tariff bill. Conservatives wanted to kill the bill so they proposed a tax through an amendment,
thinking it would never pass. However, states passed in with a three-fourths vote, making it
official in 1913.
-Supreme Court Case after the amendment: Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co. (1895):
Charles Pollock, a resident of Massachusetts, state-regulated income taxes were considered to be
direct taxes but they were not subject to apportionment. Therefore, he stated that un-apportioned
state regulated direct taxes were in direct violation of the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled
in favor of Pollack, and the sixteenth amendment was proposed, and eventually passed.
17th Amendment:
-Modified Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution
-Prior to the amendment, U.S. Senators were not directly elected by the people because the
founders wanted to make sure that the Senate consisted of the true political elite.
-The Amendment states: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators
from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one
vote.”
-This amendment grants the people to have a bigger direct say in the government, because now
they can directly choose their representatives in both Houses of the Legislature, including the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
-It was passed by Congress on May 13, 1912 and ratified by the states on April 8, 1913.
19th Amendment:
-On May 19, 1919, a Joint Resolution was passed “Proposing an amendment to the constitution
extending the right of suffrage to women.”
-House passed on May 21, 1919 and the Senate passed it two weeks later.
-Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, officially
making it the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
-With the amendment, women officially were given the right to vote.
-Supreme Court Case: Leser v. Garnett (1922): Oscar Leser brought the case to the Supreme
Court to dispute the right given to women to vote based on the nineteenth amendment. The
Supreme Court dismissed the case, referencing the fifteenth amendment and saying the passing
of the nineteenth amendment was constitutional.
20th Amendment:
-This amendment moves the date to which the president and Congress will take office after an
election.
-For the president, it only refers to a new president taking office, like a Lame Duck instance.
-The president is to take office on January 20th, unless it falls on a Sunday.
-Congress is to take office on January 3rd.
22nd Amendment:
-The Amendment states: “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 President more than once.”
-This amendment was passed by Congress on March 21, 1947 and ratified by the states on
February 27, 1951.
-This amendment was passed after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for four
consecutive terms. Today, because no president can have this many terms, it allows the people
to have a guaranteed change to a large part of the government every eight years. If they feel that
the current president is not doing a good job, they can hope his is not re-elected after four years,
but there is no guarantee. With this amendment, there is a guarantee for a new president after
eight years.
24th Amendment:
-This amendment forbids making voters pay a poll tax before voting in a national election.
-It was original established for states (mainly Southern states) that used a poll tax to keep poor
people and African Americans from voting.
-1966 Harper vs. Virginia Board of Elections
-Poll taxes were still legally constitutional until 1966 because of this amendment and with
actions done during the Civil Rights Movement.
25th Amendment:
-States that if a president happens to be removed, die, or resign, then the vice president will take
over the role as president.
-If the vice president spot becomes vacant, then the president will choose somebody with a
majority vote in both houses of Congress.
-The idea started when President Henry was the first president to die in office, and they didn’t
know who should take over the spot.
-Representative John Williams suggested the idea that the vice president should take over the slot
of president.
26th Amendment:
-States that a citizen of the United States has the ability to vote if they are 18 years of age or
older.
-Originated in the times of the Vietnam War.
-People saw the anti-war support from students and proposed the idea of changing the voting age
from 21 to 18 nationwide. The decision overruled the case of Oregon vs. Mitchell, where the
Supreme Court originally stated changing the voting age was unconstitutional. However, the
decision was changed when they ultimately saw men not old enough to vote being sent to fight in
the war.
Supremacy Clause:
-This clause is found in Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution. It states: “This Constitution,
and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties
made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the
Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
-This clause is pretty straightforward and gets to the point; the constitution is the supreme law of
the land and must be followed by all states. Federal Laws are the highest laws of the land and
the U.S. Supreme Court is the Highest Court of the land and they make their rulings based on the
Constitution because whatever it says goes.
-Supreme Court Case: McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Baltimore cashier of the branch of the
Second Bank of the United States refused to pay taxes on the bank that were imposed by the state
of Maryland in 1818, after the banks was chartered in 1816. McCulloch claimed that the tax
legislation was unconstitutional and the state did not have the right to tax the bank. The Supreme
Court, under John Marshall, ruled in favor of McCulloch because it stated that the state
government does not have the right to impose taxes on parts of the national government. This
shows that the Supreme Law of the Land is the Constitution and Federal Laws in the constitution
are supreme over state laws regarding Federal matters.
-Supreme Court Case: Cohens v. Virginia (1821): The sale of lottery tickets in the District of
Columbia was permitted based on Congressional approval. However, the Cohens brothers
decided to sell District of Columbia lottery tickets in the state of Virginia, which was against
state law. The brothers were convicted and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the convictions. By
reviewing this case, The Supreme Court claimed to have appellate authority to review state court
decisions. Although in this case the Supreme Court upheld the State Court’s decision, it
demonstrated the Federal Government’s authority over the state governments, affirming the
Supremacy Clause.
Commerce Clause:
-This clause is referred to as Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution. It states that “The
Congress shall have Power…To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
-This clause is somewhat open to interpretation and has seen some court cases in the past. It is
saying that Congress, or the Federal Government has the right to regulate all commerce, from
nation to nation, state to state, from nation to state, and with Indian tribes. Based on the
interpretation of the constitution amongst citizens, this clause has been debated.
-Supreme Court Case: Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): New York granted exclusive right to steam
boat navigation to Livingston and Fulton, and Livingston granted Ogden the right to navigate the
waters between New York City and New Jersey ports. Ogden, who had a state monopoly on the
Hudson River, sought to gain the right to restrain Gibbons, who had a federal license to transport
goods across the Hudson River, from using the river. Ogden was granted the right and Gibbons
appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, under John Marshall, ruled in
favor of Gibbons, in which they stated that the federal license had precedence over the state
monopoly and Ogden could not regulate the Hudson River. The ruling supports the Commerce
Clause because it shows that Congress, and the Federal Government can regulate not just
commerce in general, but interstate commerce as well, based on the Constitution.
Full Faith and Credit Clause:
-States that full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and
judicial proceedings of every other state.
-For example, a California driver’s license is allowed and legal in every other state.
-Originally started in the 1700’s with the case of Mills vs. Duryee, in which the Supreme Court
ultimately stated in Mr. Mills favor that it is the federal statute to make records in one state valid
in every other state as well.
Establishment Clause:
-Pertains mostly to the First Amendment and the freedom of religion.
-It prohibits the government from making any law favorable or respecting a certain religion.
-It prohibits government from making a national religion.
-The original precursor of this clause was Thomas Jefferson in the 1700’s. He introduced the
idea of disestablishing the Church of England in America and guaranteeing freedom of religion
to all faiths, with no one faith being greater than the other.
Red=Luke
Green=Tom
Purple=Ryan
Blue=Andy