Refer back to your analysis of the Bill of Rights. - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Refer back to your analysis of the Bill of Rights.

What

do you think these rights are that they thought worth protecting under the Ninth

?

Is it appropriate for judges to make the decision about the nature and content of these rights, or should be it up to the people through their elected representatives

?

Enquiry Question:

How far are the rights contained within the constitution an effective guarantee of freedom?

Learning Outcomes

To explain the freedoms that are protected by the

constitutionTo examine the balance between liberty and securityTo evaluate how well these freedoms are protected

Constitutional Liberty

The Founders listed several rights guaranteed to the people in the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights

.They did not believe that this list was all encompassing, so they included the Ninth Amendment as a way to protect the rights of the people that were not listed in the first eight.

YOUR

TASK:

Read

the hand-out “How does the Constitution Protect Liberty”, and answer the questions.

What freedoms and rights are protected?

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

How

do the rights in the Bill of Rights protect liberty? Why did the

Founders list

these rights in the Bill of Rights?

Why

is due process protected in more than one amendment? What

due process

rights are protected?

Explain

why the limits on rights in the following passage are important

and how they are related to liberty:“You have a right to free speech. You do not, however, have the right to

make anyone listen to you. The right to speak does not include the right to be heard…This principle demonstrates how personal liberty goes hand in hand (goes together) with personal responsibility. There are no rights in the Bill of Rights that require others to act on your behalf.”

Background

In

1922, the state of Oregon passed the Compulsory Education Act. The law stated that all children between the ages of eight and sixteen must attend public school. The Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, nuns who ran a local Catholic school, and Hill Military Academy, a private school, sued the governor, attorney general, and district attorney. Both groups argued that the state was violating their Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Sisters argued the state was violating parents’ rights to choose where their children went to school, and the Academy argued that the policy violated their right to due process by taking the school’s property in money made through contract with parents, employees, and for supplies and equipment.

CASE STUDY

Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)

Key Questions:

What

did the Compulsory Education Act require?

Why

were religious and private schools concerned about this

law?

What

other constitutional arguments could have been made in this

case?

Why

do you think these arguments were not made?

Unanimous Opinion

The Supreme Court agreed that the Oregon law requiring children to attend public schools was unconstitutional. The majority opinion stated that the liberty that the United States was established to protect does not allow “any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only.” The Court also said that “the right to conduct schools was property, and that parents and guardians, as a part of their liberty, might direct [control] the education of children by selecting reputable [responsible] teachers and places,” and, “children are not mere creatures of the state.” The Court believed that parents have a right to decide whether their children will be home-schooled or go to a public, private, or religious school. It is not up to the government to decide.

CASE STUDY

Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)

Key Questions:

Do you agree with the Court’s ruling?

Explain

your answer.

What

is the importance, if any, of the fact that the ruling in this case was unanimous?

Learning Outcomes

To explain the freedoms that are protected by the

constitutionTo examine the balance between liberty and securityTo evaluate how well these freedoms are protected

The Five Minute Challenge

Design a

security policy for your US High School that protects public and private property, students’ safety, and also protects the rights of the population of the school.

What problems do

you

encounter while writing the policy?

Do

you

make any sacrifices of security or rights in the final policy

?

Security, Liberty, and the USA Patriot

Act

How can you balance liberty and security?

YOUR TASK:

Read “Department of Justice Summary of the Patriot

Act”.

As

you read

,

you

should annotate the document, listing constitutional principles and the Preamble’s goals for government suggested by the summary of the Patriot Act. 

E.g. republicanism, separation of powers, protection against unreasonable search and seizure, protection of free speech, justice, providing for the common defence, and promoting the general welfare.

Security, Liberty, and the USA Patriot

Act

Preamble“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic

tranquility

, provide for the common

defense

, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America

.”

Fourth Amendment

“The

right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

.”

How can you balance liberty and security?

What concepts or principles of government do these statements have in

common?

In

what ways might tension develop between the goals expressed in the Preamble and the guarantees contained in the Fourth Amendment?

CONTEXT

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization led by Osama bin Laden, carried out a series of violent surprise attacks on the United States.

Nineteen Al Qaeda operatives hijacked four commercial airliners early that morning in order to carry out suicide attacks. In quick succession the hijackers deliberately crashed three of the planes into the twin towers of Manhattan’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Passengers

on the fourth plane attempted to regain control of the flight before it crashed into a field near

Shanksville

, Pennsylvania.

Fatalities

included the airline passengers and crews, individuals inside the buildings hit,

firefighters

and other first responders.

Altogether, about 3,000 people were killed in that morning’s terrorist attacks.

Why was the PATRIOT Act needed?

CONTEXT

In response to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, President George W. Bush announced a War on Terror in a televised address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on September 20, 2011.

Operation Enduring Freedom, launched the next month, was an international military effort led by the United States to remove the Taliban government in Afghanistan which had harbored the Al Qaeda network and its training facilities there. In

addition to the USA Patriot Act, Congress enacted more than a dozen laws addressing related issues, including victims’ relief, air transportation, national

defense

, and the use of military force.

Why was the PATRIOT Act needed?

YOUR TASK:

You will work

in pairs. One student in each pair will read 

the hand-out “

U.S

. Senator Rand Paul Opposition to USA Patriot Act,

2011”

.

The

other student will

read the hand-out “

President

Barack Obama Press Conference – August 9, 2013”. You will each answer the comprehension and critical thinking questions on your

respective

hand-outs

.

Share your

documents

with your pair,

and keep a running list of Constitutional provisions/principles used to support the Patriot Act and those used to dispute the law.

Push yourself further…

Stretch & Challenge

Identify

at least 3 provisions of the Patriot Act which Senator Feingold supported.

Why is it important that the changes in criminal procedure would apply to every federal criminal prosecution, rather than applying only to terrorism investigations?

Why did Senator Feingold consider the provision allowing law enforcement officers to search homes and offices without notifying the owner prior to the search (“sneak and peek” searches) “a significant infringement on personal liberty”?

Why might law enforcement agencies support a provision such as the one the Senator criticizes?

What was the Senator’s fear regarding the monitoring of computer communications? Why did he see this as problematic

?

YOUR TASK:

Read the remarks from

Senator

Russ

Feingold

and

answer these questions:

Push yourself further…

Stretch & Challenge

What

did Attorney General Ashcroft mean by the phrase, “paradigm of prevention”? How is a paradigm of prevention different from the traditional goal of law enforcement – prosecution?

Attorney General Ashcroft stated that the targets of the terrorists are “the shared values of free peoples.” What are some of those values?

Did Ashcroft omit any “shared values of free peoples”? If so, what are they?

Why do you think Attorney General Ashcroft emphasizes international cooperation?

Why do you think he views information as the best friend of prevention?

Why do you think Attorney General Ashcroft refers to previous generations’ struggle against communism?

How many times in the document did Attorney General Ashcroft refer to “rule of law”? Define this term. What is the significance of his emphasis on that concept? In your opinion, how might enhanced law enforcement powers actually endanger the principle of rule of law?

Underline or highlight 5 or 6 sentences in Attorney General Ashcroft’s speech that you think most powerfully convey his views.

YOUR TASK:

Read the remarks from

Attorney General John Ashcroft

and

answer these questions:

Learning Outcomes

To explain the freedoms that are protected by the

constitutionTo examine the balance between liberty and securityTo evaluate how well these freedoms are protected

To what extent is there disagreement about how effectively the Constitution protects freedom?

YOUR TASK:

For each of the arguments used by liberals, centrists and conservatives find

TWO

examples or pieces of evidence which support this argument to complete your worksheet, then evaluate each argument.

What makes this a strong argument?

What makes this argument unconvincing?

Liberals

Centrists

ConservativesLiberals, who define freedom in positive terms (fulfilment of potential) believe that the Constitution was designed to protect rights and that it has had a mixed record at best.

Infringement of rights has often been the result of bigotry at local level and the Constitution has often made it difficult for the national government to intervene

Centrists argue that the Constitution strikes the best possible balance between freedom and effective government.

There have been times when this balance has been lost, such as when Japanese Americans were interned during World War II, but it has always been restored

Conservatives, who define freedom in negative terms (non-interference) believe that the Constitution was designed to limit the size and power of government, especially the national government, and that it has been largely ineffective at doing so.

Each national crisis since the 1930’s has seen the growth of the national government with a proportionate disempowerment of the states.

This is a dynamic that is inimical to freedom from interference from a government that feels remote

Learning Outcomes

To explain the freedoms that are protected by the

constitutionTo examine the balance between liberty and securityTo evaluate how well these freedoms are protected

Final

Thoughts

Was the Constitution written in a way that was designed to protect freedom and limit the government's size? Has it been effective in doing that? And what's the Supreme Court's record when it comes to protecting our rights?

Why We’re Losing Liberty!

Homework

Application Task:

To what extent is there disagreement about how effectively the Constitution protects freedom? Flipped Learning Preparation Task:The American Constitution (McKay p44-53)

Stretch

& Challenge Task

The Right of Privacy

Does

the Constitution protect the right of privacy? 

If

so, what aspects of privacy receive protection?