Unit 8 - Civil Rights Flashcards
(15 cards)
How are civil rights protected formally in the US?
- Constitution
- Amendments
- Bill of rights
- Landmark Supreme Court rulings
Civil liberties
Fundamental individual freedoms, many detailed in the Bill of Rights, which give individuals freedom from government authority
Civil rights
Additional protections which ensure that groups of citizens are not discriminated against, many of which originated from the Fourteenth Amendment where formally enslaved people became citizens
How does constitution protect civil rights and liberties?
-Entrenched - protected from enemy attack making it hard to change and making rights inalienable
-Codified - written in one document means that citizens are better able to know their rights, giving them a greater ability to not be subject to oppression
-Written with aim of protecting citizens
-Checks and balances enshrined
-Article III establishes SCOTUS
What are limitations to the ways that the constitution protect civil rights and liberties?
-It is outdated
-Dead hand control
-Some rights are better protected
-Too much reliance on informal amendments
-Many rights are at the mercy of the Supreme Court
-Mostly focused on workings of government not protecting individual liberties
How does the bill of rights protect civil rights and liberties?
-Outlines 10 of the most important rights for American citizens - easier to be aware of and intended to protect liberties
-Protect rights that are the most crucial e.g. freedom of speech etc.
What are limitations to the ways that the bill of rights protect civil rights and liberties?
-Infringes upon the right to safety especially when it comes to the second amendment and the right to bear arms
-Initially only applied to free persons and women weren’t treated equally, leading to more amendments
How do amendments protect civil rights and liberties?
-Supreme Court can make rulings that are informal amendments to the constitution, which protect rights
-Amendments are hard to be made due to entrenchment - requires 2/3rds support then 3/4s to make an official amendment
-Amendments can be made which may protect rights e.g. 13th amendment which abiolished slavery, 14th amendment which gave citizenship and equal citizenship to all, nineteenth which gave women the right to vote, 24th with gave AAs the right to vote without paying tax
What are limitations to the ways amendments protect civil rights and liberties?
-Informal amendments can be easily overturned by another SCOTUS with a different overall leaning
-Congress can override informal amendments
-Amendments may be too hard to make - just 2% of pop is enough to block an amendment which make sit out of date
-Reactionary - must have been infringed upon first before changes are made
How do landmark rulings of the Supreme Court protect civil rights and liberties?
-Federal influence
-May have a large impact - legislating from the bench
-Expands upon the rights already granted and clarifies them - which can protect rights that have been infringed upon
-interprets connotations to apply civil rigths and liberties in a modern context
-brown v board 1954
-roe v wade 1973
-obergefell v hodges 2015
What are limitations to the ways landmark rulings of the Supreme Court protect civil rights and liberties?
-Both of the ways to interpret (loosely and strictly) have their limitations - might be too outdated which doesnt protect some rights, or may want to infringe upon rights in the constitution for modern reasons
-reactionary
-not official amendments so could be removed or changed like roe v wade was
-based on interpretation which may change based on the makeup of the court
What is another, informal, way that rights may be protected? Example? Limitations to this?
Executive orders
Obama used executive orders to advance his goals in gay rights e.g.:
-People with HIV were no longer barred from entering the country
-Federal housing rules were prevented from discriminating against gay people
-Married same-sex couples could take family and medical leave
-The IRS treated married same-sex couples the same as normal couples
They may remove civil rigths and liberties: Trumps Muslim majority country travel ban, trumps removal of temporary protected status from migrants from countries like Venezuela
How was government authority pushed to its limits because of 9/11 (and its impact on civil liberties)?
Through the Patriot Act 2001 which received bipartisan support with 1 opposing in senate and 66 in house and was signed with no amendments, more surveillance powers granted to gov
Which rights were affected because of 9/11 (and its impact on civil liberties)?
Let police spy on suspected terrorists by interecpeting on calls and emails etc., official could use trap and trace devices and sneak and peak searches where they could break into offices without permission, more border patrol, more INS personal, foregin nationals were denied entrance, they could be investigated based on their speech, right to free speech
We’re all Americans rigths impacted in the same way because of 9/11 (and its impact on civil liberties)?
It increased chance of catching terrorists by increasing cooperation of CIA and FBI, used more to catch drug dealers than terrorists, accused of racially profiling and it directly impacted Arab Muslims more even though it was said to not have been aimed to do so this is because it put distrust into Muslim communities as a result of aggressive informants, may be seen to prevent future attacks, may violate free speech
