Consists of Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression
Ryan Chavez
Tom McNutt
Luke Irwin
Andy Crown
Constitutional Study Guide
1st Amendment:
-Consists of Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression
-Freedom of expression consists of Freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition
-Establishment Clause prohibits government from passing legislation to establish a national religion.
-Gitlow v. New York- Supreme Court applied 1st amendment rights to every state.
2nd Amendment:
-Gives people the right to bear arms
Columbia v. Heller- Supreme court ruled that an individual can own a fire arm unconnected with military service.
-firearms can be used for self-defense or recreation.
4th Amendment:
-Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
-Requires warrant and probable cause for searches.
-Exclusionary rule states that evidence that is obtained in violation of 4th amendment may not be used to prosecute a suspect.
-Weeks v. United States- Affirmed the exclusionary rule.
-Silverthorn Lumber Co. v. United States- Tips cannot be used to prosecute if they are in violation of the 4th Amendment.
5th Amendment:
-protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
-Gives right to be indicted by an impartial grand jury before being tried.
-The right to be free from multiple prosecutions for a single criminal offense.
-Gives right to remain silent.
- Self-incrimination Clause- Freedom to not testify against oneself.
-Gives the right to have personal liberties protected by due process.
-Double Jeopardy Clause- can't prosecute a defendant previously found innocent on the same charge.
-Dickerson v. United States- Miranda decision was based on 5th amendment and could not be overturned.
-Due Process clause- procedural-concerned with the process by which legal proceedings are conducted. Substantive concerned with content of the law.
-Eminent Domain Clause- Government can take personal property for public use.
-Grand Jury determines whether probable cause exists.
6th Amendment:
-Gives the right to a speedy and public trial.
-Gives right to be informed of the nature of accusation.
-Right to be confronted with witnesses.
-Right to have assistance of counsel for defense.
-Supreme Court extended these protections to the states.
-Strunk v. United States- If right to speedy trial is violated conviction must be overturned.
-Sheppard v. Maxwell- Supreme Court ruled that right to a public trial is not absolute. Ruled that a jury of 6 is sufficient and it must be impartial.
8th Amendment:
-Prohibits government from imposing excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment.
-Louisiana ex reel Frances v. Resweeber/Robinson v California- Supreme Court ruled that these protections apply to the states as well.
-Disallowed torture, unnecessary punishment, or excessively severe punishment.
9th Amendment:
-Addresses rights of the people which are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
-Not a list of rights but rather a way to interpret the Constitution
-The Ninth Amendment has generally been regarded by the courts as negating any expansion of governmental power on account of the enumeration of rights in the Constitution, but the Amendment has not been regarded as further limiting governmental power. The U.S. Supreme Court explained this, in U.S. Public Workers v. Mitchell "If granted power is found, necessarily the objection of invasion of those rights, reserved by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, must fail."
10th Amendment:
-Deems that powers not granted specifically to the states or the federal government by the Constitution fall to the people and/or states.
-In United States v. Sprague the Supreme Court asserted that the amendment "added nothing to the [Constitution] as originally ratified."
-Specifies intent on Constitution.
13th Amendment:
-The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
-Supreme Court ruled that the military draft was not involuntary servitude.
14th Amendment:
-Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
-Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford that had held that black people could not be citizens of the United States
-Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness.
-Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction.
-Reed v. Reed, the Supreme Court ruled that laws arbitrarily requiring sex discrimination violated the Equal Protection Clause.
15th Amendment:
-The rights of citizens of the United States shall not be denied due to race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
-Guinn vs. United States
-This case made the Grandfather Clause, which was still being practiced in the early 1900’s by some states, unconstitutional.
16th Amendment:
-The amendment states: “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without appointment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
-It was passed by Congress on July 2, 1909 and ratified by the states on February 3, 1913, officially making it the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
-The amendment modifies Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution.
-How it came to be: In 1909, progressives in Congress attached a provision for an income tax to a tariff bill. Conservatives wanted to kill the bill so they proposed a tax through an amendment, thinking it would never pass. However, states passed in with a three-fourths vote, making it official in 1913.
-Supreme Court Case after the amendment: Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co. (1895): Charles Pollock, a resident of Massachusetts, state-regulated income taxes were considered to be direct taxes but they were not subject to apportionment. Therefore, he stated that un-apportioned state regulated direct taxes were in direct violation of the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pollack, and the sixteenth amendment was proposed, and eventually passed.
17th Amendment:
-Modified Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution
-Prior to the amendment, U.S. Senators were not directly elected by the people because the founders wanted to make sure that the Senate consisted of the true political elite.
-The Amendment states: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.”
-This amendment grants the people to have a bigger direct say in the government, because now they can directly choose their representatives in both Houses of the Legislature, including the House of Representatives and the Senate.
-It was passed by Congress on May 13, 1912 and ratified by the states on April 8, 1913.
19th Amendment:
-On May 19, 1919, a Joint Resolution was passed “Proposing an amendment to the constitution extending the right of suffrage to women.”
-House passed on May 21, 1919 and the Senate passed it two weeks later.
-Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, officially making it the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
-With the amendment, women officially were given the right to vote.
-Supreme Court Case: Leser v. Garnett (1922): Oscar Leser brought the case to the Supreme Court to dispute the right given to women to vote based on the nineteenth amendment. The Supreme Court dismissed the case, referencing the fifteenth amendment and saying the passing of the nineteenth amendment was constitutional.
20th Amendment:
-This amendment moves the date to which the president and Congress will take office after an election.
-For the president, it only refers to a new president taking office, like a Lame Duck instance.
-The president is to take office on January 20th, unless it falls on a Sunday.
-Congress is to take office on January 3rd.
22nd Amendment:
-The Amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.”
-This amendment was passed by Congress on March 21, 1947 and ratified by the states on February 27, 1951.
-This amendment was passed after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for four consecutive terms. Today, because no president can have this many terms, it allows the people to have a guaranteed change to a large part of the government every eight years. If they feel that the current president is not doing a good job, they can hope his is not re-elected after four years, but there is no guarantee. With this amendment, there is a guarantee for a new president after eight years.
24th Amendment:
-This amendment forbids making voters pay a poll tax before voting in a national election.
-It was original established for states (mainly Southern states) that used a poll tax to keep poor people and African Americans from voting.
-1966 Harper vs. Virginia Board of Elections
-Poll taxes were still legally constitutional until 1966 because of this amendment and with actions done during the Civil Rights Movement.
25th Amendment:
-States that if a president happens to be removed, die, or resign, then the vice president will take over the role as president.
-If the vice president spot becomes vacant, then the president will choose somebody with a majority vote in both houses of Congress.
-The idea started when President Henry was the first president to die in office, and they didn’t know who should take over the spot.
-Representative John Williams suggested the idea that the vice president should take over the slot of president.
26th Amendment:
-States that a citizen of the United States has the ability to vote if they are 18 years of age or older.
-Originated in the times of the Vietnam War.
-People saw the anti-war support from students and proposed the idea of changing the voting age from 21 to 18 nationwide. The decision overruled the case of Oregon vs. Mitchell, where the Supreme Court originally stated changing the voting age was unconstitutional. However, the decision was changed when they ultimately saw men not old enough to vote being sent to fight in the war.
Supremacy Clause:
-This clause is found in Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution. It states: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
-This clause is pretty straightforward and gets to the point; the constitution is the supreme law of the land and must be followed by all states. Federal Laws are the highest laws of the land and the U.S. Supreme Court is the Highest Court of the land and they make their rulings based on the Constitution because whatever it says goes.
-Supreme Court Case: McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Baltimore cashier of the branch of the Second Bank of the United States refused to pay taxes on the bank that were imposed by the state of Maryland in 1818, after the banks was chartered in 1816. McCulloch claimed that the tax legislation was unconstitutional and the state did not have the right to tax the bank. The Supreme Court, under John Marshall, ruled in favor of McCulloch because it stated that the state government does not have the right to impose taxes on parts of the national government. This shows that the Supreme Law of the Land is the Constitution and Federal Laws in the constitution are supreme over state laws regarding Federal matters.
-Supreme Court Case: Cohens v. Virginia (1821): The sale of lottery tickets in the District of Columbia was permitted based on Congressional approval. However, the Cohens brothers decided to sell District of Columbia lottery tickets in the state of Virginia, which was against state law. The brothers were convicted and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the convictions. By reviewing this case, The Supreme Court claimed to have appellate authority to review state court decisions. Although in this case the Supreme Court upheld the State Court’s decision, it demonstrated the Federal Government’s authority over the state governments, affirming the Supremacy Clause.
Commerce Clause:
-This clause is referred to as Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution. It states that “The Congress shall have Power…To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
-This clause is somewhat open to interpretation and has seen some court cases in the past. It is saying that Congress, or the Federal Government has the right to regulate all commerce, from nation to nation, state to state, from nation to state, and with Indian tribes. Based on the interpretation of the constitution amongst citizens, this clause has been debated.
-Supreme Court Case: Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): New York granted exclusive right to steam boat navigation to Livingston and Fulton, and Livingston granted Ogden the right to navigate the waters between New York City and New Jersey ports. Ogden, who had a state monopoly on the Hudson River, sought to gain the right to restrain Gibbons, who had a federal license to transport goods across the Hudson River, from using the river. Ogden was granted the right and Gibbons appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, under John Marshall, ruled in favor of Gibbons, in which they stated that the federal license had precedence over the state monopoly and Ogden could not regulate the Hudson River. The ruling supports the Commerce Clause because it shows that Congress, and the Federal Government can regulate not just commerce in general, but interstate commerce as well, based on the Constitution.
Full Faith and Credit Clause:
-States that full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.
-For example, a California driver’s license is allowed and legal in every other state.
-Originally started in the 1700’s with the case of Mills vs. Duryee, in which the Supreme Court ultimately stated in Mr. Mills favor that it is the federal statute to make records in one state valid in every other state as well.
Establishment Clause:
-Pertains mostly to the First Amendment and the freedom of religion.
-It prohibits the government from making any law favorable or respecting a certain religion.
-It prohibits government from making a national religion.
-The original precursor of this clause was Thomas Jefferson in the 1700’s. He introduced the idea of disestablishing the Church of England in America and guaranteeing freedom of religion to all faiths, with no one faith being greater than the other.
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