The 14th Amendment
19
Rights are Relative not Absolute • Sometimes the issue is not when one person’s rights conflict with another's but when the right conflicts with the common good of society.
Transcript of The 14th Amendment
Rights are Relative not Absolute
• Sometimes the issue is not when one person’s rights conflict with another's but when the right conflicts with the common good of society.
D. Explain how civil liberties conflict with the common good in the following scenarios:
1. A public demonstration blocks traffic for hours.
Civil liberty: ______________________________________________________________
Common good: ___________________________________________________________
2. A neighbor blares her stereo in the middle of the night.
Civil liberty: ______________________________________________________________
Common good: ___________________________________________________________
3. The government halts publication of war-related information.
Civil liberty: ______________________________________________________________
Common good: ___________________________________________________________
Bill of Rights
• Rights that protect citizens from the Federal Government
What about the States?
• States were allowed to do as they liked until the 14th amendment
14th Amendment says:
“No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law”
How did the 14th Amendment Come About?
• Because after the Civil War it was the only way to guarantee the newly freed slaves rights.
• All states had to ratify the 14th amendment to be a member of the Union.
• So those states that held up arms against the Union were forced to ratify it.
But…this was not enough
• The Supreme court is charged with defining what rights are including life, liberty and property.
• They do this by looking at what rights are: basic or essential to the American concept of ordered liberty
• In deciding what is a basic or essential right the Court has engaged in a process called Incorporation.
Incorporation
• In deciding what is a basic or essential right the Court has engaged in a process called Incorporation.
• Incorporation is merging the rights in the Bill of Rights with the states
• Not all rights are basic and essential
Example: Gitlow v. New York
• Benjamin Gitlow convicted of Criminal anarchy in the state
• Court said that Freedom of speech and press cannot be denied by the government and that basic and essential rights are covered by the 14th amendment.
• They are rights that the states cannot deny.
Other Rights Under The 14th Amendment
• Equal Protection
• Substantive Due Process
Equal Protection of the Law
“the right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts and to be treated equally by the law and courts, both in procedures and in the substance of the law”
What the heck does that mean in the real world?
Equal Protection Continued…
It means that state governments cannot pass or enforce any laws based solely on a specific classification of person by race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or age.
But do we pass laws in specific classifications of people?
Example: Brown v. Board of Education
• Linda Brown forced to go to all black school even though a school was right down the street from her.
• Legal Question: Does the segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprive the minority children of the equal protection of the laws? What laws?
Court in Brown v. Board
• Court said it did violate the equal protection clause. Why?
• 1. Who are the small figures at the bottom of the door? What does the door represent?
• 2. This cartoon appeared in 1960. What is the message of the cartoon?
• 3. Do you think the cartoonist was for or against the integration of schools?
• 4. Do you think the cartoonist was hopeful about ending segregation? Explain.
9th Amendment
• 9th Amendment• The constitution does not contain all the rights
held by Americans. “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people”
• What does this mean?
Other Rights We Have:
Exclusionary Rule
Abortion
International Travel
Right to Privacy in Marriage
1st Amendment Freedoms
Lets Review and Preview
• Fill out the sheet for a review and a preview of the rights under the first amendment
