The Bill of Rights Little interest in a bill of rights b/c the framers had no intention to take them away.

Madison drafted 19 amendments, House passed 17 and Senate trimmed to 12.

10 ratified by states.

Bill of Rights Amendment 1:

-protects civil liberties (5parts)…

1. Freedom of Religion: Gov’t cannot est. an official religion (Est. Clause) cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion (Exercise Clause)

-Prayer in school?

-10 Commandments in court houses

-Separation of Church and State not written in B of R

Bill of Rights 2. Freedom of the Press: tv, radio, internet,

magazines, email, billboards, etc. can report without reprisal

- acts as a check on all branches, essential to good gov’t

- Limitations: school papers (funded by school, so can sensor)

-Libel: knowingly printing untruths, trying to hurt someone

-if print a lie accidentally, absent of malice

Bill of Rights 3. Freedom of Speech: talking, gestures, signs; the communication of ideas with out fear of reprisal

-Limitations:

1. Students cannot disrupt school

2. Self imposed home/church

3. Threatening language ( can’t threaten the Pres.)

4. Can’t insight panic/riot

5. Slander: using language to cause harm to someone

Bill of Rights

4. Freedom of Petition: can addressing the gov’t about issues without reprisal

-limits: can’t threaten people

-petitions to create laws require reg. voters signatures.

Bill of Rights

5. Freedom of Assembly: can meet in public, to promote change

-Limits: requires a permit, cannot hinder normal traffic or business, or conspirer

Bill of rightsAmendment 2:

-right to bare arms

- Individual right to own guns, or the states can create a militia?

Amendment 3:

-gov’t cannot force citizens to quarter troops in peace time

Bill of Rights Amendment 4:

protection form unreasonable searches and seizures

-warrant or probable cause needed

-exclusionary rule: illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court

Bill of RightsAmendment 5

- No Double Jeopardy: can’t be tried twice for same crime

- No Self Incrimination: don't have to testify against yourself

- Must be indicted before a grand jury in major cases before trial

- Due process of law: procedures must be followed to take away liberties

- Eminent Domain: gov’t can take private property for public use at fair market price

Bill of RightsAmendment 6: rights of the accused

- speedy public trial by impartial jury

- may ask to be tried by judge alone

- my ask for change of venue

- right to know charges against you

- right to question accusers

- right to subpoena witnesses on your behalf

- respond to testimony

- have the right to representation in criminal case

Bill of Rights Amendment 7

-right to jury trial in civil cases exceeding $20 (civil=sue)

Amendment 8

-free from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishment, if found guilty

-death penalty ok, some methods not

Amendment 9

- you have more rights than those mentioned in Cont. “right to privacy”

Bill of rightsAmendment 10

-powers not given to U.S. gov’t in Const. left to states

-Delegated Power= U.S. gov’t

-Reserved Power= states

Bill of RightsImportant Amendments

Amendment 13: abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865.

Important AmendmentsAmendment 14: adopted on July 9, 1868, citizens are subject to due process & equal protection under the law (intended for former slaves)

The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by Southern states, which were forced to ratify it in order for them to regain representation in Congress.

The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization.

The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction. This clause was the basis for Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Important Amendments

Amendment 15: ratified on February 3, 1870, gave black men the right to vote

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Important Amendments

Amendment 19: ratified on August 18, 1920, gave women the right to vote (suffrage)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Important Amendments22nd Amendment: ratified February 27, 1951, sets a term limit for election to the office of President of the United States.

Section 1. 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 the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

Important Amendments25th Amendment: adopted on February 10, 1967, deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President, as opposed to an Acting President, if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.

1 Vice President of the United States Joe Biden (D)2 Speaker of the House John Boehner (R)3 President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy (D)4 Secretary of State John Kerry (D)5 Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew (D)6 Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R)7 Attorney General Eric Holder (D)8 Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (D)[a] Not

Eligible 9 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D)10 Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (D)11 Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez

(D)12 Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews

Burwell (D)1 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (D)2 Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx (D)3 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (D)4 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (D)5 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald

(R6 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (D)

Important Amendments

Amendment 26: became part of the Constitution on July 1, 1971, gave 18 year olds the right to vote

On June 22, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections

Subsequently, Oregon and Texas challenged the law in court. In Oregon v. Mitchell, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the parts of the law that required states to register 18-year-olds for state and local elections

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation