1. Chapter 15: Civil Liberties
What are campus speech codes?
Civil Liberties-refers to Bill of Rights
Writ of habeas corpus
Bill of Attainder
Ex-Post Facto Law

2. Rights We Care About
The state cannot alter contracts. Why? (Think about “economic liberty”)
How were slaveowners protected by our ideas about the sanctity of the right to own property?

3. The Due Process Clause
This clause comes from the Fourteenth Amendment, passed after the Civil War. What is it, and what was it meant to do?
You will see later that the Due Process Clause will play a major role in landmark civil rights cases.

4. Terms to Know Nationalization Incorporation Selective Incorporation
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Ordinary scrutiny
Strict scrutiny (what I’ll be using for your next paper)

5. Freedom of Speech Gitlow v. New York (1925) Texas v. Johnson (1989)
What kinds of speech are prohibited, or sanctioned, in our post-9/11 world?
In the balancing liberty with security, should we “err on the side of security”?

6. “I Know It When I See It” -Justice Potter Stewart
Is pornography a societal phenomena that the state should regulate? Why or why not?
What is it? (The LAPS test-literary, artistic, political, or scientific value)
The Communications Decency Act (1996)-meant to control internet pornography. Ruled unconstitutional in United States v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997)

7. Religion Beliefs are distinguished from actions by the state. Why?
Establishment Clause
The Lemon Test: A guide on how to avoid establishing a religion. Laws must be for secular purposes. The primary effect of laws must not advance or retard religion. Government must never foster excessive entanglements between the state and religion.
Does, or did, (assuming it is over), the Schaivo case cause the state to “foster excessive entanglements between the state and religion?

8. Right to Privacy and the Rights of the Accused
Ninth Amendment- contains penumbras that imply a right to privacy
If women have the right to choose whether or not to reproduce, do people have the right to die?
Exclusionary rule
Self-incrimination
Right to counsel
Capital Punishment- violation of Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment”? (Court has limited the rights of those on death row to appeals, but has recently begun to sway the other way.)

9. The U.S. Patriot Act
Expands powers to use wire-tapping and electronic surveillance
Provides strict punishments for those who aid terrorists in any way
Executive orders authorize use of military tribunals to try any noncitizen suspected of terrorism
FBI may requests lists of books checked out or purchased by citizens
How do you feel about new airport security? Do you know that you can get on a “no-fly” list? If you were on such a list, how would you find out? How would you get your name removed?

10. Freedom of the Press
Is “freedom of the press” relevant? Why or why not?
Prior restraint (Is the meaning of this term compromised by PR operatives?)
The Pentagon Papers-top secret study on the history and conspiracy that resulted in the Vietnam War-related to “prior restraint” powers of the state
Obscenity- tension between individual rights and concerns of the larger society

11. Free Exercise of Religion
Free exercise clause-1st amendment
The interference of the state in an individual’s religious beliefs or practices is different from the state’s establishment of laws that “foster excessive entanglements between the state and religion.”
Prayer in Schools—the religious right in our society would like to see it return. Is there a societal benefit? Can students pray without sanctions by the state?

12. Rights Are Not Static
The Rehnquist Court has made some decisions that affect the rights of the accused.
Exclusionary Rule-narrowed by SC in Minnesota v. Carter (1998)-police can peer through a gap in Venetian blinds, provided they have a “tip”
SC still limits surveillance ability of the state—ruled police could not use devices to detect marijuana-growing lights in homes (Kyllo v. United States 2001)

13. Self-Incrimination and the Right to Counsel
Miranda Warnings-does this process impede law enforcement?
Powell v. Alabama (1932)-indigent defendants have the right to counsel (Scottsboro Boys)
All defendants now have the right to counsel

14. Death Penalty
Atkins v. Virginia (2002)-SC bans the use of the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants
Ring v. Arizona (2002)-SC overruled death sentences of 160 inmates—only juries can decide on the death penalty—not judges

15. Threats to Civil Liberties
Fear in a post 9/11 world
New powers invested in Homeland Security department and the U.S. Patriot Act
City councils resisting Act—Chicago and San Francisco passed resolutions of “non-cooperation”