Civil Liberties in USA

Running Head: Civil Liberties
CIVIL LIBERTIES IN
USA
System04128

Civil Liberties
Individual liberty is the base of democratic society. It can be termed as the rights of an
individual for liberty, life and living happy and dignified life. These things are to be ensured
by the government that these rights are neither restricted nor they are destroyed (Individual
Liberty).There are some circumstances in which these rights can be restricted like wartime.
These rights are to be restricted s that there is no harm to the public. During the wartime,
anything said or done contrary to the law can lead to severe consequences. In America, the
civil liberties of the citizens were restricted during wartime like World War I, Civil War and
World War II. During the national crises, there are restrictions on freedom of speech, right of
equal protection of law and right to fair trial
Just when the World War I was declared, the US banned sending of mails which was to
perform treason or insurrection. Espionage Act was framed which included the fine of 10,000
dollars and 10 years of imprisonment for publishing any information which can be used by
the enemy against the US in the war. This lead to famous case of civil liberties: Charles
Schenck v. The United States of America, in which the Supreme Court gave its judgment to
confirm the conviction for leaflets printing which was asking people to go against the draft
with clear majority. The court stated that during the wartime, many things that are said or
published during peace can lead to disturbing the maintaining of peace and constitutional law
will not protect these things (Mccullagh).
During World War II, Koremstsu v. United States case came up to the court. When the
Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbour and in retaliation the government of US came up
with the idea to move Japanese-American people into relocation camps. The reason given by
the government was national security. In 1942, the then President Franklin Roosevelt gave
his assent on Executive Order 9066. A citizen who was Japanese-American opted to stay at
his home and refuse the order of relocation. Korematsu was then arrested on the charges of
violating the order.
During the wartime, there are several things to be done for the benefits of the majority of the
people. Most of the time, freedom of speech is suffered during wartime. The speech should
be restricted during the wartime otherwise it can lead to more conflicts. As the court said in
Schenck’s case that government has power to restrict the speech more in wartime than in
peacetime. The government can prohibit the uttering, jotting down of every kind of language
whether positive or negative that can lead towards contempt during peacetime. The
government has right to restrict people if they lead to threat of the country. The government