Chapter 13

In this chapter, we examined the role that our fundamental liberties play within the polity. Civil liberties protect us from government intrusions into our individual lives with guarantees as listed in the Bill of Rights, such as the First Amendment’s freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. A series of court cases in the twentieth century slowly incorporated these liberties, which expanded and refined the definitions of these fundamental freedoms, forever changing their application.

For example, broad interpretations of free speech (i.e., Gitlow v. New York (1925)), rights to privacy (i.e., Roe v. Wade (1973)) and very limited restrictions placed on prior restraint of the press (i.e., Near v. Minnesota (1931)) became the norm in court interpretations by the 1970s. Then, a conservative counter-reaction occurred within the elected and appointed offices of the national government leading to the advance of restrictions on civil liberties as it became clear that “not all speech was protected” (i.e., Virginia v. Black (2003)) and the right of privacy as interpreted in the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision was subject to restriction as far as access to abortion procedures were concerned. In a related issue, the proper application of the First Amendment’s establishment clause has been hotly debated (e.g., Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)) among Supreme Court justices as they attempt to identify the constitutional limits of organized prayer in public schools by proposing an endorsement test and a coercion test to refine the Lemon test. Furthermore, the rights of the accused, perhaps most especially articulated in the Mapp v. Ohio (1961) and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) rulings, have been restricted as searches and seizures have been expanded as well as the admissibility of evidence acquired in unconventional ways (i.e., Hudson v. Michigan (2006) and Herring v. U.S. (2009)).

The chapter also delved into the murky waters of recent and ongoing developments regarding privacy issues, national security, and criminality emanating out of decisions made by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11. These are mostly encapsulated in the debate over the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which has been heightened with the release of secret documents showing the wide latitude of domestic and international surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) but not sanctioned by Congress. Other larger issues of criminality are treated in a comparative discussion on the employment of the death penalty. This case study reveals that the U.S. is somewhat unique in its liberal application of this means of punishment within our society.

In a related issue, the proper application of the First Amendment’s establishment clause has been hotly debated (e.g., Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)) among Supreme Court justices as they attempt to identify the constitutional limits of prayer in public schools by proposing an endorsement test and a coercion test to refine the Lemon test. 

In this chapter you learned about the rights of criminal defendants and the tension between security and liberty. In recent years we’ve also heard conversations in the media about the need for victim’s rights in legal proceedings. What has often been overlooked both in the media and by key government agencies is the impact of the criminal justice system on the offender’s family, specifically his or her children.  

Familiarize yourself with the issues facing Children of Convicts by reading this U.S. Department of Justice report (http://static.nicic.gov/Library/020200.pdf) and this citizen’s group report on the issue of Children of Convicts in the State of Hawai’i (http://www.childandfamilyservice.org/documents/cms_documents/BJDwso9l.pdf). Once you’ve examined these reports, consider the following questions.

  1. Do the rights you’ve learned about so far offer a framework for the children of convicts? If not, why not?
  2. Are there special considerations that still need to be addressed for this vulnerable population? If so, what are they?

American Center for Law and Justice

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is a politically conservative organization that engages in legal and legislative politics to protect Christian religious and constitutional freedoms.

American Civil Liberties Union

This website is the official site for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a group of liberal lawyer activists dedicated to protecting individual civil liberties.

Civil Liberties--general information

This is an advocacy site dedicated to discussing civil liberty issues.

League of Women Voters

This site is oriented around a number of issues which can be navigated by the viewer. These issues cross the political spectrum but within each is a discussion of the relevant civil liberties. The League of Women Voters was formed in the wake of the Nineteenth Amendment’s passage which granted the national vote to women. The organization is non-partisan and sponsors voter education as well as registration drives. In recent years, it has become a major sponsor of presidential candidate debates at both the primary and general election levels.

ACLU Scorecard

This is site is another from the ACLU which “scores” the Congress as an institution and its members, according to the organization’s platform, as to their support or refutation of civil liberties along major issues of the time.

The Leadership Conference

This site contains commentary on major contemporary issues relative to civil liberties, civil rights, and human rights..

Civil Liberties Act of 1988

This site provides an overview of the text for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which officially apologized and provided monetary restitution to the Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps by the U.S. military during World War II.

Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights

This site provides a good overview of the basic points of differentiation between civil liberties and civil rights.

Bill of Rights

This site contains a complete listing of the 12 amendment proposals to the U.S. Constitution that were sent out of the Congress for state constitutional convention ratification. Ten of the 12 (listed as such in the text) were ultimately ratified as the Bill of Rights and an Eleventh was later ratified as the Twenty-seventh Amendment. The site also contains a synopsis of each amendment.

Find Law

This site provides access to Supreme Court decisions, as well as, dissenting and concurring opinions. These are important for doing research on civil liberties and civil rights cases as they have been manifested on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court over the decades.

NAACP

The official website for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This organization was instrumental in advancing civil rights for African Americans.

NRA

This is the website for the National Rifle Association. This group is dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, gun safety, and opposed to gun control legislation.

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

This is the website for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Named after Jim Brady, the White House Press Secretary to Ronald Reagan, who was severely wounded during an assassination attempt on President Reagan’s life, the organization is dedicated to dramatically reducing gun deaths and injuries.

Candidate Obama on Civil Liberties

This site provides a video clip of then Senator Obama’s answer to an audience member’s question regarding civil liberties abuses in the wake of 9/11.

[insert video icon] FISA Debates

CBS reporter Chip Reid discusses the battle between the Democratic Congress and the Bush administration over the War on Terror driven “re-write” of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 in 2007.