Chapter 20: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights...

Chapter 20: Civil Liberties: ProtectingIndividual Rights

Section 2

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 2Chapter 20, Section 2

Objectives

1. Outline Supreme Court decisionsregarding slavery and involuntaryservitude.

2. Explain the intent and application of the2nd Amendment’s protection of the rightto keep and bear arms.

3. Summarize the constitutional provisionsdesigned to guarantee security of homeand person.


Key Terms

• involuntary servitude: forced labor• discrimination: prejudice or unfairness• writs of assistance: blanket search warrants

used by British customs officials to invade andsearch private homes

• probable cause: reasonable suspicion of acrime

• exclusionary rule: rule that states evidencegained illegally by the police cannot be used atthe trial of the person from whom it was seized


Introduction

• How does the Constitution protect the freedomand security of the person?

– The 13th Amendment outlaws slavery and many formsof involuntary servitude.

– The 2nd Amendment protects the right to bear arms.

– The 4th Amendment protects against unreasonablesearches and seizures.


13th Amendment

• The 13th Amendmentoutlawed slaveryin 1865.

• What kinds ofinvoluntary servitudeare permitted today?– Citizens are drafted

into the military.– Convicts can be

imprisoned and forcedto work.


13th Amendment, cont.

• For many years the Supreme Court allowedracial discrimination by private individuals andbusinesses.

• Beginning in 1968, the Court began ruling thatracial discrimination violates the 13th

Amendment.

• Under current laws, all citizens must have anequal right to buy, sell, and hold property and toenter and enforce contracts.

NOTES TO TEACHERS: The 1968 case was Jones v. Mayer. The third bulletrefers to the requirements of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the SupremeCourt case Runyon v. McCrary, 1976.

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2nd Amendment

• The 2nd Amendmentprotects “the right ofthe people to keepand bear Arms.”

• There has beencontroversy overwhether this right,which was added toprotect the idea of thecitizen soldier, appliesto all individual citizens.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: The image shows, a statue, called The Minuteman,which honors the colonial militia.

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2nd Amendment, cont.

• For many years the Court rejected theindividual right to bear arms and upheld lawsthat banned some firearms.

• The Court ruled in 2008 that ownership ofhandguns for self-defense cannot be banned,though their sale and possession can beregulated in some cases for public safety.Future cases on gun control laws will surelyfollow.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: The 2008 case is District of Columbia v. Heller

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Home Security

• The 3rd Amendment forbids soldiers frombeing housed in private homes without theowner’s consent except in wartime.

• The 4th Amendment was adopted toprevent the use of blanket search warrantsto search private property.– This same right is provided by each state

constitution and is applied to the states by the14th Amendment.

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Probable Cause

• In most situations, police officers lookingfor evidence must first gain a searchwarrant from a court by showing that theyhave probable cause to suspect a crime.

– This rule does not apply if the evidence of acrime is in plain view.

– Police officers do not need a warrant tosearch a suspect or the immediate area aftermaking a legal arrest.


Probable Cause, cont.

• Police officers musthave reasonablesuspicion that a crimehas occurred or isabout take placebefore they stop andarrest or search aperson.


Probable Cause, cont.

• Today police needprobable cause, butnot a warrant, tosearch vehicles andpassengers that theyhave lawfully stoppedor suspect of beinginvolved in a crime.

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Exclusionary Rule

• Under the exclusionary rule, evidencegained illegally by police cannot be usedas evidence against the person fromwhom it was seized.– This is meant to limit police misconduct, but

critics say it protects criminals.

• The Supreme Court has ruled that federaland school district drug-testing programsare legal and do not require warrants.


Mapp v. Ohio

• Mapp v. Ohio, 1961,extended theexclusionary rule tothe states.

• State and local policecannot use evidencegained byunreasonablesearches andseizures in court.

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Exceptions

• The exclusionary rule may not apply in anyof the following situations:– The evidence would have been discovered

legally.– Police fail to announce their presence before

serving a warrant but do not endanger anyoneby doing so.

– Officers make an honest mistake byaccidentally performing a search with a faultywarrant or searching the wrong place.

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Patriot Act

• The Patriot Act was passed in 2001 toincrease the government’s power to fightterrorism.

– The Act allows federal agents to conductsearches of a suspect’s home when no one isthere and to collect visual and writtenevidence without a warrant.


Wiretapping

• Checkpoint: How did the Court’s ruling inKatz v. United States differ from its rulingin Olmstead v. United States?

– In Olmstead, the Court held that an electronicwiretap did not need a warrant because it wasnot a physical search.

– In Katz, the Court ruled that people have aright to private communications and thatwiretaps required warrants.

Checkpoint Answer: In Olmstead, the Court ruled very literally that electronicsurveillance did not involve a physical search and so was not covered by the4th Amendment. In Katz the Court overturned this ruling and argued thatpeople have a reasonable expectation of privacy in certain communicationssuch as private phone calls, and search warrants must be obtained beforewiretaps are permitted by law.

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Wiretapping, cont.

• The Bush administration authorizedwarrantless wiretaps of Americanssuspected to have ties to terrorism.

• When this secret program was revealed,the administration defended its actions asa reasonable use of the President’sauthority as commander in chief.

• This issue remains unresolved.

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Review

• Now that you have learned about how theConstitution protects the freedom andsecurity of the person, go back andanswer the Chapter Essential Question.– To what extent has the judiciary protected the

rights of privacy, security, and personalfreedom?

Chapter 20: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights...

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