Civil Liberties and the
Struggle for Equal Rights
Dr. Patrick Scott
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Freedom of Religion
n  1st Amendment - "Establishment Clause &
Free Exercise Clause“
n  Establishment Clause:
n  Relates
to separation of Church and State
n  Madison
and Jefferson - "high wall of
separation"
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Establishment Clause: High Wall of
Separation
n  Engel v. Vitale (1962)
n  Recital of a prayer
n  Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
n  Daily Bible Readings
n  Murray v Curlett (1963)
n  Daily
Bible Readings
n  These constitute government sponsorship of
religion
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Establishment Clause:
n  Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
n  Advanced a three part test:
n  To
avoid violating the Establishment Clause, a
law must have a secular legislative purpose,
its primary effect must neither advance nor
inhibit religion, and it must avoid excessive
government entanglement with religion
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Free Exercise Clause:
n  Certain religious practices may be regulated
or banned
n  The Key Question: Is there a “Compelling
State Interest”?
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND
PRESS
n  Schenck vs. the U.S. (1919)
n  “Clear and Present Danger” standard
n  Gitlow vs. New York (1925)
n  "Bad Tendency" doctrine
n  Brandenburg vs. Ohio (1969)
n 
"Preferred Freedoms Test“
n  Texas vs. Johnson (1989)
n  Flag burning
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Unprotected Speech
Obscenity
n  Roth vs. the U.S. (1957)
n  Based
on community standards does a work
of art/literature appeal to “prurient interests?”
n  Miller vs. California (1973)
n  Does the work lack serious “literary, artistic,
political or scientific value?"
Libel
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4th Amendment: Search and
Seizures
n  Mapp vs. Ohio (1961)
n  Exclusionary
Rule
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5th Amendment: Confession and
Self-Incrimination
n  Miranda vs. Arizona (1966)
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6th Amendment - Right to Trial by
Jury/have an Attorney
n  Gideon vs. Wainwright (1963)
n  The Process of “Selective Incorporation”
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8th Amendment: Cruel and Unusual
Punishment
n  Furman vs. Georgia (1972) and the Death
Penalty
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Right to Privacy
n  Griswold vs. Connecticut (1965)
n  Roe vs. Wade (1973)
n  Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
n  Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania
vs. Casey (1992)
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THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL
RIGHTS
n  Educational, Economic, and Political
Equality Among African Americans:
n  Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857) –
n  13th Amendment - outlawed slavery
n  14th Amendment - made former slaves
citizens
n  15th Amendment - gave former slaves voting
rights
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Discrimination Against African
Americans
n  Jim Crow Laws
n  Poll Taxes
n  Literacy Tests
n  1896 - Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) –
n  “Separate but equal" remained the law of the
land until the mid 1950's.
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Discrimination Against African
Americans
n  Brown vs. Board of Education
n  Events in the South, 1950’s – 1960’s
n  Civil Rights Act of 1964
n  Voting Rights Act of 1965
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Affirmative Action
n  Arguments for and against
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