AP Us gov Unit 3

• Bill of Rights

  First ten amendments to the US Constitution designed to protect civil liberties
• Civil liberties


  Constitutionally established guarantees and freedoms that protect citizens against arbitrary government interference
• Origin of the Bill of Rights

  1. Federalists wanted a more powerful central government

  2. Anti-Federalists wanted more powerful states

  3. Anti-Federalists demanded a Bill of Rights to protect liberties

  4. James Madison compromised and agreed to include a Bill of Rights
• Key figures in the Bill of Rights

  • George Mason
  • James Madison
• Amendments in the Bill of Rights

  • 1st Amendment: Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition
  • 2nd Amendment: Right to bear arms
  • 3rd Amendment: No quartering of soldiers
  • 4th Amendment: Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures
  • 5th Amendment: Rights of accused
  • 6th Amendment: Rights of accused in criminal trials
  • 7th Amendment: Right to jury trial
  • 8th Amendment: Protection against cruel and unusual punishment
  • 9th Amendment: Unenumerated rights
  • 10th Amendment: Powers reserved to states
• The Bill of Rights originally only protected citizens from intrusion by the federal government, not state governments
• The 14th Amendment later applied the Bill of Rights to the states
• First Amendment


  • Prohibits Congress from establishing a national church (Establishment Clause)
  • Protects the rights of citizens to practice their religion without interference from the government (Free Exercise Clause)
• The phrase "wall of separation between church and state" comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson
• Johnson Amendment


  If a church receives tax-exempt status, the pastors and priests of those churches cannot endorse political candidates from their pulpits
• The Johnson Amendment


  Has been the bane of conservatives since it was passed
• A president has precisely zero constitutional power to overturn an established law
• Engel v. Vitale (1962)

  1. New York state board of regents authorized a short non-sectarian prayer to be recited by school children at the beginning of each school day

  2. Supreme Court deemed this a violation of the Establishment Clause, ruling state-sponsored prayer in schools unconstitutional
• Justice Hugo Black justified the Engel v. Vitale ruling by invoking Jefferson's "wall of separation" language
• Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)


  1. Amish parents complained that Wisconsin's compulsory education law violated their right to free exercise of religion

  2. Supreme Court agreed that requiring the Amish children to remain in school past 8th grade would violate the free exercise of their religion
• In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), the Supreme Court ruled that the free exercise of religion could be restricted if the practice was otherwise illegal
• None of our liberties is absolute, there are limits
• Prior restraint

  When the government seeks to restrain a story prior to its publication
• The standard for prior restraint has been set very high by the Supreme Court
• New York Times v. United States (1971)

  • Case involved the Pentagon Papers being leaked to the New York Times and Washington Post
  • Demonstrated the president had lied about the Vietnam War
  • Nixon invoked prior restraint to prevent publication on national security grounds
  • The Court ruled the freedom of the press was more important than Nixon's vague claim about national security
  • The Court established a heavy presumption against prior restraint
• For the government to censor the press, it has to be incredibly clear that a real and imminent threat is being prevented, which the Supreme Court has said is a high bar that is rarely cleared
• Second Amendment


  Amendment to the US Constitution that protects the right to keep and bear arms
• The debate over the interpretation of the Second Amendment can get nasty
• Militia


  A military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency
• The Bill of Rights and its amendments were influenced by state constitutions and bills of rights, which tied the right to bear arms to militia service
• The founding generation was suspicious of standing armies and wanted to rely on state militias for protection
• We now have a robust military system and police force, so there is no need for state militias


  This raises the question of whether the Second Amendment's right to bear arms still applies
• District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)


  • The Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for self-defense, even in the absence of militia service
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010)


  • The Supreme Court applied the Heller decision to the states, upholding an individual's right to own a gun
• The Supreme Court's decisions in Heller and McDonald were highly contentious, with 5-4 rulings along ideological lines
• Affirmative action


  Policies and actions that favor groups that have been historically discriminated against
• Affirmative action has been in place in some form since

  19th century
• Signed an executive order concerning the employment of federal contractors, which is the root of the modern version of affirmative action

  John F. Kennedy
• Affirmative action takes an active approach against discrimination instead of hoping that passive discrimination laws will result in equity
• Affirmative action policies were met with anger, mostly from white people who thought it discriminated against them
• De jure segregation


  Racial discrimination by law
• De facto segregation


  Racial segregation by personal choice
• The Supreme Court ruled against de jure segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, dismantling the legal structure that supported racial segregation
• In cases where de jure segregation was not clear, the Supreme Court has generally ruled against affirmative action
• The Supreme Court has operated from a "colorblind" perspective, ruling against affirmative action policies that use race as the sole or primary factor in decision-making.