Constitutuional Law Notes: 07/29/10

JSA Georgetown Summer Session II, 2010
Congressional Law, Dr. Marty Sheffer

I. Rights/Liberties
a. Liberties are guaranteed without the need for government confirmation. Rights are enumerated to the people by the government.
i. Liberty: Freedom of speech
ii. Right: Right to remain Silent.
b. The Miranda warning is simply moving the constitutional guarantees are protected in the court an also on the street.
II. Liberties
a. You will find that the liberty debates in the notes change a lot in the language. Madison’s language is very different. The 1st amendment has the most significant changes.
i. 1st Amendment included the right of conscience, the right of religious believe or akin that doesn’t necessarily have to be directly tied to religion. This disappears.
III. Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
a. Marshall rules that the Bill of Rights were intended as limitations on the central government. Technically correct.
i. On two centuries of hind sight, he would’ve said that the state v. federal limitations by the bill of rights is not applied to both equally, so it needs to be incorporated.
IV. Civil Rights Act of 1866
a. Struck down by the Supreme Court, but the same text was later recycled for the 14th Amendment.
b. Civil Rights Cases of 1883 – only state action violates the law. These say nothing about individual discrimination.
V. Incorporation
a. Total Incorporation – through the due process clause of section I of the 14th amendment, the bill of rights gets incorporated, and made applicable to the states at the same level of coverage as in the federal government.
i. Some rights are incorporated at different times because some are simply more important.
b. Case by case – fundamental fairness.
VI. Free Exercise of Religion Clause
a. Two things with respect: Belief and action. In the great scheme of legal things in the U.S., the free exercise of religious belief is pretty much absolutely guaranteed. The practice or action is a problem.
i. Belief: Private faith.
ii. Worship: Practice of faith in a designated time and place.
iii. Action: Most forms of religious action are protected. Polygamy was the first that was not protected. Handling live copperhead snakes during religious ceremonies.
iv. Proselytizing: Vigorous conversion by any and all means.
b. Minersville School District v. Gorbitis -
c.

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