The Bill of Rights
Amendments 1-10
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Amendment 1
Freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and to
peaceably assemble
Amendment 2
Rights to bear arms
Amendment 3
Right to not quarter soldiers
Amendment 4
Protection from search and seizure without warrant
or probable cause
Amendment 5
Due process, double jeopardy, self incrimination,
eminent domain
Amendment 6
Right and speedy trial
Amendment 7
Trial by jury of peers
Amendment 8
Cruel and unusual punishment
Amendment 9
Non-Enumerated Rights
Amendment 10 Powers of the state and people
Ratification date December 15, 1791
The Bill of Rights
 The Bill of Rights were proposed by the first
session of the First Congress in 1789 and
were ratified by the States in 1791.
 The Bill of Rights set out the great
constitutional guarantees of freedom of belief
and expression, of freedom and security of
the person, and of fair and equal treatment
before the law.
 The first ten amendments were added to the
Constitution
so quickly, that for all
intents and purposes they might just as well
be regarded as a part of the
original Constitution.
The First Amendment
Freedom of religion,
speech, press, petition,
and peaceable assemble
Ratification date
December 15, 1791
 Congress shall make no
law respecting an
establishment of
religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the
people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition
the government for a
redress of grievances.
The First Amendment Court Cases
 Hazelwood S.D. vs. Kuhlmeir – 1998
 Freedom of Press – Reasonable authority of the schools
 The Court noted that the paper was sponsored by the school
and, as such, the school had a legitimate interest in
preventing the publication of articles that it deemed
inappropriate and that might appear to have the imprimatur
of the school.
 Tinker vs. Des Moines – 1969
 Symbolic Speech
 Ruled in the favor of the students
 “Students don't shed their
constitutional rights at the
school house gates.”
Lemon Test
 Lemon Test
1. A law must have a secular, not religious, purpose
2. It must neither advance nor inhibit religion
3. It must not foster am “excessive entanglement” of
government and religion
 The Lemon Test stems from Lemon vs. Kurtzman, 1971
 Endorsement
 Laws cannot endorse certain religion
The Second Amendment
 A well regulated
militia, being
necessary to the
security of a free
state, the right of the
people to keep and
bear arms, shall not
be infringed.
 Rights to bear arms
 Ratification date
December 15, 1791
The Third Amendment
 No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any
house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time
of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
 Right to not quarter soldiers
 Ratification date December 15, 1791.
The Fourth 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.
 Protection from search and seizure without warrant or
probable cause
 Ratification date
December 15, 1791.
The Fifth Amendment
 No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled
in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just
compensation.
 Due process, double
jeopardy, self incrimination,
eminent domain
 Ratification date December
15, 1791.
‘Just Compensation’
 Or fair market value
 Compensation provided to an owner whose private real property is
seized by the government's power of eminent domain, which
allows it to take such property for public use.
 For example, when the national highway system was being
constructed in the 1950s, many homeowners had their property
seized through eminent domain because the government wanted
the land to build the highway system.
 The just compensation remedy is provided by the Fifth
Amendment's taking clause, and is usually considered to be fair
market value.
 However, what the government considers just compensation may
not be considered as such by the person whose property is seized.
 Eminent Domain
 the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private
property for public use, with payment of compensation.
The Sixth Amendment
 In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall
have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the
witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defense.
 Right and speedy trial
 Ratification date December 15, 1791
The Seventh Amendment
 In suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of
trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of
the United States, than according to the rules of the
common law.
 Trial by jury of peers
 Ratification date
December 15, 1791
The Eighth Amendment
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted.
 Cruel and unusual punishment
 Ratification date December 15, 1791
The Ninth Amendment
 The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights,
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people.
 Non-Enumerated Rights
 Ratification date December 15, 1791
The Ninth Amendment Court Cases
 Griswold vs. Connecticut – 1965
 The 1879 law provided that “any person who uses any drug,
medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing
conception shall be fined not less than forty dollars or imprisoned
not less than sixty days.”
 Estelle Griswold, the executive director of Planned Parenthood
League of Connecticut, and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, doctor and professor
at Yale Medical School, were arrested and found guilty as
accessories to providing illegal contraception
 The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision written by Justice William
O. Douglas, ruled that the law violated the "right to marital
privacy" and could not be enforced against married people.
 The right to use contraceptives for a married couple.
The Ninth Amendment Court Cases
 Roe v. Wade – 1973
 Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion.
Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woman's life.
 The district court held that the Texas abortion statutes were void as
vague and for over broadly infringing the Ninth and Fourteenth
Amendment rights of the plaintiff.
 Siding with Roe, the court struck down the Texas law.
 In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional
right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether
or not to terminate her pregnancy.”
 Allowing abortion accessible to women – personal liberty
 Roe has come to be known as the case that legalized abortion nationwide.
At the time the decision was handed down, nearly all states outlawed
abortion except to save a woman’s life or for limited reasons such as
preserving the woman’s health, or instances of rape, incest, or fetal anomaly.
 Roe rendered these laws unconstitutional, making abortion services
safer and more accessible to women throughout the country.
The Tenth Amendment
 The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are
reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
 Powers of the state and people
 Ratification date December 15, 1791