Return to Page One, Unit Two
I. Rights Protected by Provisions in the Original Articles of
the United States Constitution [U.S. Constitution, Articles
I and III]
A. The Right to a Writ of Habeas Corpus
1. Article I, Section 9, Clause 2--The Habeas Corpus
Clause
a. What the Clause Provides
B. What the Clause Means
(1) How the Clause Limits the Power of Congress
(2) The Circumstances Under Which the National
Government May Legally Deny the Right to a
Writ of Habeas Corpus
2. Writ of Habeas Corpus
a. Definition
3. The Habeas Corpus Process
a. Original Use of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
b. Current Use of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
c. How the System Works
4. Habeas Corpus and American Federalism
a. Jurisdiction of State Judges
b. Authority of Federal District Judges
c. Habeas Corpus and State Constitutions
5. The Protection That the Writ of Habeas Corpus
Affords the Individual
a. Its Importance
b. What It Prevents
B. The Right to Immunity from Ex Post Facto Laws
1. The Ex Post Facto Clauses
a. Article I, Section 9, Clause 3
(1) Limitation on the Power of Congress
b. Article I, Section 10, Paragraph 1
(1) Limitation on the Power of the States
2. Ex Post Facto Law
a. Definition
3. How the Constitutional Prohibition of Ex Post Facto
Laws Protects Individual Liberty
C. The Right of Immunity from Bills of Attainder
1. The Attainder Clauses
a. Article I, Section 9, Clause 3
(1) Limitation on the Power of Congress
b. Article I, Section 10, Paragraph 1
(1) Limitation on the Power of the States
2. Bill of Attainter
a. Definition
3. How the Constitutional Prohibition of Bills of
Attainder Protects Individual Liberty
D. The Right to Trial by Jury
1. Article III, Section 2, Paragraph 3
E. The Right to Immunity from Easy Prosecution for and
Conviction of Treason and from Imposition of Unfair
Punishment after a Treason Conviction
1. Article III, Section 3, Paragraphs 1 and 2
II. The Right of American Citizenship [Textbook, pp. 91-93.]
A. Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1
1. The Citizenship Clause
a. What the Clause Provides
b. What the Clause Means
B. Congressional Statutes Supplementing the Citizenship
Clause
1. Acquiring American Citizenship by Birth
2. Acquiring American Citizenship by Naturalization
a. Naturalization--A Definition
b. Individual Naturalization
c. Collective Naturalization
3. Eligibility for Naturalization
4. The Process of Individual Naturalization
a. Appeal from an Adverse INS Decision
b. Taking the Oath of American Loyalty and Becoming
a Naturalized Citizen
5. Revocation of a Person's Naturalized Citizenship
III. The Right to Equal Protection of the Laws [Textbook, pp.
97-98]
A. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
1. What the Clause Provides
2. Actions to Which the Clause Applies
a. Actions of State and Local Governments
b. Actions of Public Authorities
3. What the Clause Prohibits
a. Unreasonable Classifications
b. How to Distinguish Between Constitutional and
Unconstitutional Classifications
1. Three Constitutional Tests
2. The Rational Basis Test and the Burden of
Proof
3. Suspect Classifications and the Strict
Scrutiny Test
a. Suspect Class--A Definition
b. Classifications Based on Race or
National Origin
4. Quasi-Suspect Classifications and the
Heightened Scrutiny Test
a. The Burden of Proof
b. The Current Rule of Law
(1) Califano v. Webster (1977)
(a) Classifications Based on
Gender
(2) Mississippi University for Women
v. Hogan (l982)
(a) Classifications Based on
Gender Stereotyping
B. Proving Discrimination
1. Disparate Impact and Discrimination
a. Washington v. Davis (1976) [Landmark Case]
(1) Legal Question
(2) Holding
b. Hernandez v. New York (1991)
(1) Concurring Opinion of Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor
c. Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v.
Feeney (1979)
(1) What the Equal Protection Clause
Guarantees
(a) Equal Laws, Not Equal Results
IV. The Electoral Franchise--The Right to Vote [Textbook, pp.
99-101.]
A. Government Regulation of Elections and Voting Qualifica-
tions
1. The Authority of the States
a. State and Local Elections
b. Federal Elections
(1) Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 1
(2) Seventeenth Amendment, Paragraph 1
(3) Article I, Section 4, Paragraph 1
c. The Scope of State Authority to Regulate the
Conduct of Elections and to Prescribe Voting
Qualifications
2. The Authority of the National Government
a. Article I, Section 4, Paragraph 1
b. How Congress Has Used Its Authority Under this
Provision
3. Federal Constitutional Amendments Limiting State
Authority to Set Voter Qualifications and Empowering
Congress to Provide for Enforcement of those Limita-
tions
a. Fourteenth Amendment
(1) Section 1, Equal Protection Clause
(a) What the Provision Prohibits, as
Regards Setting Voter Qualifications
(2) Section 5--The Enforcement Clause
(a) The Power Delegated to Congress
b. Fifteenth Amendment
(1) Section 1
(a) What the Provision Prohibits
(2) Section 2--The Enforcement Clause
(a) The Power Delegated to Congress
c. Nineteenth Amendment
(1) Paragraph 1
(a) What the Provision Prohibits
(2) Paragraph 2--The Enforcement Clause
(a)The Power Delegated to Congress
d. Twenty-fourth Amendment
(1) Section 1
(a) What the Provision Prohibits
(2) Section 2
(a) The Power Delegated to Congress
e. Twenty-sixth Amendment
(1) Section 1
(a) What the Provision Prohibits
(2) Section 2
(a) The Power Delegated to Congress
4. Congressional Authority Enhanced by the Enforcement
Clauses of the 14th., 15th., 19th., 24th., and 26th.
Amendments
B. Congressional Legislation and Federal Court Litigation
1. Voting Rights Act of 1965
a. Key Provisions of the Statute
(1) What the Statute Prohibits
(2) Federal Examiners
(3) Clearance with the U.S. Department of
Justice
b. Legal Question--What Precisely Constitutes
"Dilution" of Voting Power and How Is It to Be
Measured
(1) Supreme Court Case
(a) Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia
(1996)
Examples of Changes in Voting
Practice Which Dilute the Voting
Power of Particular Groups
2. Majority-Minority Congressional Districts
a. Definition of a "Majority-Minority Congressional
District"
b. How Majority-Minority Congressional Districts
Became a Legal Issue in the Early 1990s
c. The Current Rule of Law
(1) Shaw v. Reno and Subsequent Cases
(2) Abrams v. Johnson (1997) and Miller v.
Johnson (1995)
V. The Equal Protection Clause and the Public Schools [Text-
book, pp. 101-102.]
A. The Separate but Equal Doctrine
1. Definition of the "Separate but Equal Doctrine"
2. The Leading Case--Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
3. The Consequence of the Supreme Court Decision in
Plessy v. Ferguson
4. The Separate but Equal Doctrine--The Rule of Law
During the First Half of the Twentieth Century
5. The Separate but Equal Doctrine and Reality During
the First Half of the Twentieth Century
B. End of the Separate but Equal Doctrine and the New Rule
of Law
1. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
[Landmark Case]
a. How the Supreme Court Reversed Itself on a Rule
of Law
b. The Inherently Unequal Doctrine
c. Racial Segregation and the Equal Protection
Clause
2. Boling v. Sharpe (1954) [Landmark Case]
a. Holding
b. What Was Read into the Fifth Amendment Due
Process Clause
3. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1955)
[Landmark Case]
a. Ruling
(1) With "All Deliberate Speed"
b. Implementation of the Ruling
(1) The Role of the Federal District Courts
4. Alexander v. Board of Education (1969) [Landmark
Case]
a. How the Supreme Court Reversed Itself
b. Ruling of the Court
C. Action Taken by Congress to End Racial Discrimination
in Education
1. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as Sub-
sequently Amended
a. Withdrawal of Federal Financial Assistance
D. De Jure Segregation and De Facto Segregation
1. De Jure Segregation--Definition and Description
2. De Facto Segregation--Definition and Description
3. Court-Ordered Bussing to Achieve Racial Balance in
the Public Schools
4. The "Quiet Reversal"
a. Limiting the Role of Federal Judges in Public
Education
b. Missouri v. Jenkins (1992)
(1) Ruling
(2) Instructions to Federal District Judges
VI. The Right of Access to Housing, Employment, and Public
Accomodations [Textbook, pp. 102-103]
A. The Commerse Clause--Article I, Section 8, Clause 3
1. What the Clause Provides
B. Supreme Court Interpretation of the Commerce Clause
1. Broad Construction
a. Scope of Congressional Authority to Regulate
and Prohibit Discriminatory Conduct by Private
Individuals
2. How Congress Has Used the Commerce Clause, as
Construed by the Supreme Court
C. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
1. Title II of the Statute
a. Public Accomodations
(1) What Is Prohibited and Made a Federal Crime
(2) Application of Title II
b. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)
[Landmark Case]
(1) Holding of the Supreme Court
2. Title VII of the Statute
a. Employment
(1) Application of Title VII
(2) What Is Prohibited and Made a Federal
Offense
(3) Related Legislation
(a) What Is Prohibited and Made Illegal
(b) The Recourse Given to Aggrieved
Persons
Right of Private Action to Sue
Class Action Suits
(c) Equal Employment Opportunity Commis-
sion (EEOC) and Its Function
(d) 1965 Presidential Executive Order
Supplementing Title VII
Federal Contractors and Affirmative
Action Programs
D. Fair Housing Act of 1968 and Its 1988 Amendments
1. What Is Prohibited
2. Exemptions from the Prohibition
VII. Rights of Owners and Renters of Private Property [Text-
book, pp. 108-109
A. Property Rights
1. Definition of "Property Rights"
2. How Property Rights Are Limited
3. Property Rights and State Police Powers
4. Property Rights and Eminent Domain
a. The Power of Eminent Domain
b. Limitations on the Power of Eminent Domain
(1) Just Compensation
(2) What Constitutes a "Taking" for Purposes
of Eminent Domain
(3) Regulatory Takings
(a) The Current Rule of Law
(4) The Role of the Courts in Disputes over
What Constitutes Just Compensation
(5) The Current Rule of Law Regarding What
Constitutes Just Compensation
VIII. The Right to Due Process [Textbook, pp. 109-110.]
A. The Two Due Process Clauses in the U.S. Constitution
1. Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause
a. Provision
b. Original Application
c. Current Application
2. Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause
a. Provision
b. Application
B. Procedural Due Process
1. What Procedural Process Requires
a. How Government Must Proceed
b. Limits on How Governmental Power May Be
Exercised
2. How a Law May Violate the Procedural Due Process
Requirement
a. Vagueness
b. Improper Presumption of Guilt
3. Prosedural Due Process and the Way in Which the
Law Is Applied
a. The Type of Procedure Required by Procedural
Due Process
4. Procedural Process and Its Application
a. Original Application
b. Current Application
C. The "Liberty" Protected by the Due Process Clauses
1. Immunity from Arbitrary Arrestment and Imprison-
ment
2. Other Rights Included
a. The Enumeration in Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)
D. The "Property" Protected by the Due Process Clauses
1. Ownership of Real Estate, Things, and Money
2. Other Rights Included
E. Substantive Due Process
1. Definition of "Substantive Due Process"
2. The Distinction Between Procedural Due Process
and Substantive Due Process
a. Procedural Due Process
b. Substantive Due Process
3. The Meaning of Substantive Due Process
4. Current Use of Substantive Due Process
a. The Supreme Court's Position on Judicial
Review of Laws Regulating Business and Com-
mercial Activity
b. Substative Due Process and the Right of
Privacy
IX. The Right of Personal Privacy [Textbook, pp. 110-112.]
A. The U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the
Right of Privacy
1. The Constitutional Bases and Sources of the Supreme
Court's Recognition of Personal Privacy as One of
Civil Liberties Protected by the Federal Constitu-
tion
2. Three Aspects of the Right of Privacy Recognized by
the Supreme Court
3. Abortion Rights--The Most Controversial Aspect of
Constitutional Protection for the Right of Privacy
a. Legal Issue--The Extent of State Power to
Regulate Abortions
(1) Roe v. Wade (1972) [Landmark Case]
(a) Ruling of the Supreme Court
The First Trimester of a Woman's
Pregnancy
The Second Trimester of a Woman's
Pregnancy
The Third Trimester of a Woman's
Pregnancy
(b) The Undue Burden Test
(2) Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Penn-
sylvania v. Casey (1992) [Landmark Case]
[5-4 Decision]
(a) Ruling
(3) Subsequent Cases
4. Sexual Orientation Rights
a. 1986 Decision of the Supreme Court [5-4 Deci-
sion]
(1) What the Court Refused to Do
b. Roemer v. Evans (1996)
(1) Ruling
(a) The State Constitutional Provision
Invalidated
(2) Grounds for the Ruling
X. The Rights of Persons Accused or Suspected of Crime [Text-
book, pp. 112-115.]
A. Freedom from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
1. Fourth Amendment
a. What the Amendment Provides
2. Searches and Seizures
a. Seizure--A Definition
b. Search Warrant--A Definition
3. Warrantless Arrests
a. Warrantless Arrests in Public Places
(1) County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (1991)
(a) Ruling
Probable Cause
Magistrate
b. Warrantless Arrests of Persons in Their Homes
4. Use of Deadly Force
a. Fourth Amendment Limits on the Use of Deadly
Force
5. Police Stopping Persons to Ask Questions and Seek
Consent to Search
a. California v. Hodari (1991)
(1) The Question of Whether There Is a Seizure
or Detention Requiring Probable Cause or a
Warrant
(a) When the Police Act in a Noncoercive
Manner
(b) When the Police Act in a Coercive
Manner
6. Administrative Searches by School and Other Nonpolice
Government Officials and Employees
a. Administrative Searches and Search Warrants
b. Chandler v. Miller (1997)
(1) Ruling
c. Compulsory Drug Testing
(1) The Position of the Supreme Court
(a) Instances in Which the Court Has Upheld
Compulsory Drug Testing
(b) Invalidation of a Georgia Compulsory
Drug Testing Statute
The Statute Invalidated
Grounds
7. Police Searches without Consent
a. When Such Searches Are Constitutional
b. The Role of the Magistrate
8. General Search Warrant
a. Constitutional Status
9. Constitutionally Valid Search Warrant
a. What the U.S. Constitution Requires
10. The Expectation of Privacy Rule
a. The Rule and the Need for a Constitutionally
Valid Search Warrant
11. The Fourth Amendment and Protection of Persons
12. The Exclusionary Rule
a. Mapp v. Ohio (1961) [Landmark Case]
(1) Establishment and Content of the Exclusion-
ary Rule
(2) Rationale Behind the Exclusionary Rule
(3) Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule
(a) United States v. Calandra (1974)
(b) United States v. Leon (1984) [Landmark
Case]
The Good Faith Rule
B. The Right to Immunity from Forced Self-incrimination
1. Fifth Amendment
a. The Self-incrimination Clause
2. The Fundamental Legal and Constitutional Principle
3. The Right to Refuse to Answer Questions
a. Blau v. United States (1951) [Landmark Case]
(1) Legal Question
(2) Ruling
4. How a Witness Can Lose His Constitutional Right to
Refuse to Give Self-incriminating Testimony
a. "Granting Immunity" from Prosecution
5. Police Detention, Suspects' Rights, and Coerced Con-
fessions
a. The Importance of Police Questioning of Suspects
b. Abuse of Police Questioning of Suspects
(1) Victims of Abuse
(2) Methods of Abuse
(3) The Central Problem
(4) What Judges Have Done About the Problem
c. The U.S. Supreme Court's Position on Coerced
Confessions
(1) Mincey v. Arizona (1966) [Landmark Case]
(a) Ruling
d. Federal and State Statutes Regulating Police
Detentions
(1) What the Statutes Require
(2) Police Attempts to Circumvent the Statutory
Requirements
e. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Miranda Warning
(1) Miranda v. Arizona (1966) [Landmark Case]
(a) Ruling
(2) Modification of the Original Miranda Ruling
C. The Death Penalty and the Right to Immunity from Cruel
and Unsuual Punishment
1. Eighth Amendment
a. What the Eighth Amendment Provides
2. Three Ways in Which the Eighth Amendment Ban on
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Limits Governmental
Authority
a. The Kinds and Methods of Punishment That May Be
Imposed
b. Punishments Grossly Disproportionate to the Crime
c. Power to Decide What Can Be Made a Criminal
Offense
3. The Constitutionality of the Death Penalty
a. Grahams v. Collins (1993) [Landmark Case]
(1) Ruling
XI. The U.S. Constitution and the Rights of Persons Accused or
Suspected of Crime by the National Government [U.S. Con-
stitution.]
A. Fourth Amendment Rights
1. Already Covered
B. Fifth Amendment Rights
1. Fifth Amendment
a. What the Amendment Provides
2. Fifth Amendment Rights Already Covered
a. Freedom from Forced Selfincrimination
(1) Self-incrimination Clause
b. Immunity from Deprivation of Life, Liberty, or
Property Without Due Process of Law
(1) Due Process Clause
c. Freedom from One's Private Property Being Taken
Without Just Compensation
(1) Takings Clause
3. Additional Fifth Amendment Rights
a. Right of Civilians to Immunity from Being Forced
to Stand Trial, in the Absence of Prior Grand
Jury Indictment or Presentment
(1) Grand Jury Clause
b. Right to Immunity from Double Jeopardy
(1) Double Jeopardy Clause