Civil Liberties are limitations that are put on the government so that they cannot do specific things that could possibly interfere with people’s freedom. Some Civil Liberties are the First Amendment, Second Amendment and the Fourth Amendment. The First Amendment was the right to have freedom of speech, press, religion and petition. These are personal things that people should have a choice in having within the United states. It wouldn’t be fair to make a national religion for the country. These rights are the most important rights that cannot be taken away from an american citizen. The Second Amendment is the right to keep bare arms. This was put into the amendments because the government wanted people to be able to protect themselves. This was important because they didn’t want people to think that the …show more content…
Des Moines, Roe v. Wade and Miranda v. Arizona. These cases are very involved with civil liberties and helped people interpret what their liberties truly are.
Tinker v. Des Moines was about students rights and being able to express their beliefs by wearing black armbands to protest against the Vietnam War. The case was decided on February 24th, 1969. It was a vote 7-2. The Supreme court said that the students have a right to freedom of speech as long as those don’t affect other students. Students do not lose their rights when they go to school. The Supreme Court believed that the kids did nothing wrong and were able shouldn’t have been suspended.
Roe v. Wade was about how women's rights and how women should be able to have abortions. At the time, abortion was illegal in many states. The Case was said to be against the 9th amendment. People should have the right to be able to do things such as abortion in privacy. The court decided on January 22, 1973. The vote was 7-2. Abortion would only be legal until the point where a baby could live on its own. Overall, the case came down to where it had to do with
Separate but equal, judicial review, and the Miranda Rights are decisions made by the Supreme Court that have impacted the United States in history altering ways. Another notable decision was made in the Tinker v. Des Moines Case. Ultimately the Supreme Court decided that the students in the case should have their rights protected and that the school acted unconstitutionally. Justice Fortas delivered a compelling majority opinion. In the case of Tinker v Des Moines, the Supreme Court’s majority opinion was strongly supported with great reasoning but had weaknesses that could present future problems.
We, all, have the opportunity to voice our opinion on subjects that matter to us. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech and expression. However, this was not provided to all students in 1968. During this time, there were three students in Des Moines, Iowa, who wore black armbands to school. These armbands were a symbol of protest against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. After the Des Moines School District heard about this plan, they instituted a policy banning the wearing of armbands, leading to the suspension of students. A lawsuit has been filed against the Des Moines School District, stating how this principal goes against the students’ First Amendment rights. Thus, in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case, Justice Abe Fortes determined the policy to ban armbands is against the students’ First Amendment rights. Yet, Justice Hugo Black dissented with this decision, determining the principal is permissible under the First Amendment.
Many Supreme Court cases in the United States have reassured its citizens’ rights. One of those cases was that of the 1965 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case. This case was about five students who were suspended from school for wearing black armbands. Should the students have been suspended? The Tinker v. Des Moines case was a very controversial Supreme Court case in which the right to freedom of speech and expression for students in public schools was violated.
Civil liberties can be defined as the basic rights and freedoms of an individual granted to citizens in the United States and the entire world through the national common law or the statute law. The liberties include freedom of association, speech, movement, religious worship, and that from arbitrary arrest. The liberties get to form the roots of democracy in society. In a dictatorial administration, the citizens are denied the rights and freedoms. However, liberties can be described as universal rights and freedoms.
It was irrational for these students to be suspended from the school. The high school students named John F. Tinker, who was fifteen-years-old, John’s younger sister Mary Beth Tinker, who was thirteen-years-old, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt, who was sixteen years old, should not have been suspended. They were under the protection of the First Amendment. The parents of those students sued the school district for violating the students’ right of expressions and sought an injunction to prevent the school from decupling the students. The Supreme Court of the United Sates stepped in and the question of law was if. They ruled in the favor of the Tinker’s because it was in a seven to two decision "Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District."
The Roe v. Wade case originated in the state of Texas in 1970 at the suggestion of Sarah Weddington an Austin attorney. Norma McCorvey otherwise known as "Jane Roe" was an unmarried pregnant woman seeking to overturn the anti-abortion law in the state of Texas. The lawsuit claimed that the statue was unconstitutionally vague and abridged privacy rights of pregnant women guaranteed by the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments to the constitution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade)
From the beginning, the United States Constitution has guaranteed the American people civil liberties. These liberties have given citizens rights to speak, believe, and act freely. The Constitution grants citizens the courage to express their mind about something they believe is immoral or unjust. The question is, how far are citizens willing to extend the meanings of these liberties? Some people believe that American citizens take advantage of their civil liberties, harming those around them. On the contrary, many other people feel that civil liberties are necessary tools to fight for their Constitutional rights.
The Tinker v. Des Moines case was a very important case in history. It changed a big part of school district rules. The Tinker’s were a family with two children who attended Des Moines Independent Community School District in the sixties. The Tinker’s had two kids, John F. Tinker and Mary Beth Tinker. One day the Tinker kids and Christopher Eckhardt, another Des Moines student, wore black armbands in a silent protest against the government’s policies in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Both Tinker children and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended for their protest. When the Tinker and Eckhardt tried to fight the suspensions the District Court said it was within the school’s power to suspend the children but the parents knew that wasn’t right. So, the Tinkers and Eckhardts moved their case to the Supreme Court.
Throughout American history, our civil liberties as American citizens have evolved immensely. For example, the first ten amendments in the U.S. Constitution are referred to as the “The Bill of Rights,” which contains some of the most cherished civil liberties, such as freedom of speech and religion. These civil liberties however, did not originally apply to state governments or institutions the state established. The Bill of Rights focused solely on what the national government could not do, allowing state governments to do whatever they wanted. For example, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire supported Congregationalist ministers with tax payer dollars for decades. After the Civil War, civil liberties expanded, because three new amendments were added: the Thirteenth, abolishing slavery, the Fourteenth, which redefined civil liberties and rights, and the Fifteenth, which allowed adult, male citizens to vote. The due process clause (contained in the Fourteenth Amendment) became one of the most important civil liberties, because it applied the language of the Fifth Amendment to state governments, proclaiming that they could not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law....
Natural liberty could be defined as the state in which everyone is free to act as he thinks fit, subject only to the laws of nature. Natural liberty is all about the acquiring the wealth of your own choosing and all about the individual. Unlike natural liberty, civil liberty is for everyone and doesn’t have to be fair or mean to be fair. Civil liberty is an natural liberty so far restricted by an established law as is expedient or necessary for the good of the community. Civil liberty is good/expedient for the people who are in control and the good of the community.
There are differences between civil rights and civil liberties. According to our textbook, civil rights refer to the rights of all Americans. It grants equal protection under the law provided by the 14th amendment of the constitution. Civil rights are what the government must do to ensure equal protection for all people. They should protect people from freedom of discrimination. Civil liberties protect people from the government by placing limitation on the governments and they emphasize what a government cannot do and what rights the government cannot take away from the
The list of civil liberties contains right to bodily integrity, the right to defend oneself, and the right to own property. More civil liberties are the right to equal treatment, the right to a fair trial the right to privacy, the right to due process, and the right to life. Still more civil liberties are freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the freedom from torture and death. Not to mention, the right to liberty and security, and freedom of conscience.[11]
Many have come to question what can truly be defined as speech, and to what lengths should the freedoms associated with it be limited. Such precedents were never as evident as they were in the Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District when students protesting the Vietnam War via the wearing of black arms bands would set into stone the way public schools could handle disciplinary action within the bounds of the Constitution. Originally,
1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Comm. Sch. (political protest) ruled school officials could not silence student expressions
Civil Liberty is the state of being subject only to laws established for the good of the community, especially with regard to freedom of action and speech. They are individual rights protected by law from unjust governmental interferience. These rights are based on universal characteristics, not on feelings, desires or volitional conduct. Civil rights are personal rights protected and gaurenteed by the U.S Constitution. They include freedom of speech, the right to vote, due process of law, equal protection of the laws, and protection from unlawful discrimination.