American Government: Rights, Liberties, and Legal Precedents

This homework assignment provides a detailed analysis of key concepts in American government, focusing on constitutional rights and civil liberties. It explores the First and Sixth Amendments, discussing freedom of speech and the rights of the accused. The assignment examines due process, the exclusionary rule, and the right to privacy, referencing landmark cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio and Griswold v. Connecticut. It also differentiates between civil rights and civil liberties, addressing discrimination and the Fourteenth Amendment. Furthermore, the assignment covers rational basis and strict scrutiny tests, suspect classifications, de facto and de jure discrimination, and affirmative action programs. Finally, it discusses the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, highlighting landmark legislation aimed at protecting civil rights.

Running head: AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
American Government
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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Contents
Answer 1:.........................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2:.........................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3:.........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4:.........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 5:.........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 6:.........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 7:.........................................................................................................................................5
Answer 8:.........................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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Answer 1:
Freedom of speech as per amendment 1: The right to freedom of speech gives the citizens of the
country rights to free speech.
The right to own arms as per amendment 2: Amendment 2 has given the citizens of the country
right to bear arms.
Rights of persons accused in criminal cases as per amendment 6: Even the accused in criminal
cases have certain rights which must be upheld before, during and after the trial. Amendment 6
has list the rights of the persons accused in criminal cases in the country.
Rights in civil cases as pert amendment 7: People involved in civil litigations have certain rights
and Amendment 7 has discussed these rights in detail.
No, none of the rights chosen above are absolute. Each and every single rights have riders to
them. It is the responsibility of the citizens of the country to enjoy these rights without abusing
these rights. Hence, the citizens must be responsible in their behavior to continue to have these
rights.
In order to assess whether a law violates the assessment cause Lemon test is used. In order to
prevent government from endorsing or supporting any religion the Establishment clause and
Lemon test were introduced (Olsen, 2017).
Answer 2:
The Supreme Court of United States of America in the landmark case of Brandenburg v. Ohio
case (1969) asserts that Government has no right to punish any inflammatory speech until unless

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the inflammatory speech is directed towards inciting imminent lawless action to incite people to
create such situation in the country.
The nonverbal action taken in order to communicate a belief is termed as symbolic speech. Yes,
the first amendment protects the symbolic speech.
Answer 3:
Due process is the procedure that the government whether state or federal or both must follow
before punishments can be hand out to any person for an offence. The person must be given
necessary opportunity to defend himself and must be heard without a prejudice before taking any
final decision in respect of the alleged offence.
Exclusionary rule include the rules that need not be considered in the due process. In respect of
search and seizures due process requires the government to follow standard procedure of
informing and conducting search and seizures only after giving appropriate notice for the same.
The rights of the accused include giving the accused opportunity to be heard in good faith before
pronouncing judgment (Goodman, 2017).
Answer 4:
No, the Constitution in the US does not specifically mention the right to privacy. Griswold v.
Connecticut case (1965) is landmark case in the US on access of contraception. The
requirements of individuals and circumstances in each case must be considered to define rights in
specific situations. Fifth Amendment was interpreted to include the right to privacy. In
subsequent years, right to privacy has expanded exponentially with every citizen being more
concerned about their right to privacy. As a result from sensitive medical information to
telephonic conversation most of the day to day affairs have come under the right to privacy.

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Answer 5:
Civil rights ensure that the people of US are not discriminated due to their protected
characteristics such as access to public facilities, education, employment and others. Civil
liberties on the other hand are the basic rights guaranteed to the citizen of the country under the
Constitution.
Cassese within society creates discrimination hence, it is important to ensure that no such classes
are created within society as it directly violates the civil rights. Since the people of the country
are expected to have equal rights classes in the society violates the very basic foundation of equal
rights of citizens of the country.
Over the years number of changes have been made to the fourteenth amendment with regard to
equal protection to widen the scope of the amendment. The citizens of the country must not be
discriminated on the basis of any of protected as well as unprotected characteristics to widen the
scope of the amendment to protect the rights of the citizens of the country (Sloss, 2016).
Answer 6:
In rational basis test the rationality of individual cases are considered thus, the circumstances of
different situation is considered while rationality test is conducted. Thus, there is no strict rules
and regulations that have to be observed in rational test. Strict scrutiny on the other hand is based
on specific matter and the scrutiny is conducted on that basis. Thus, there is specific conditions
clause in scrutiny test which is not the case in rational test.
The Supreme Court of the US has given its verdict to establish precedent in judicial structure for
suspect classifications. In Hirabayashi v. United States, the Supreme Court established the

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judicial precedent on suspect classifications. The suspect classes as per the Supreme Court
include race, religion, national origin and alienage.
Answer 7:
De facto can be referred to as something that exists but not specifically ordered by law. Thus, the
things that actually happen in practice is referred to as de facto even though the law may be
different. Thus, though there is no place for discrimination of people on the basis of race,
religion and color of skins but in practice there are discrimination on the basis of these. This is
referred to as de facto discrimination. De jure on the other hand is about what should happen and
de fact is what actually happens in practice.
The affirmative action programs attempt to end both by making necessary amendments to the
constitution. Bakke v. California (1978) case discusses the impact of de factor discrimination.
The impact of the case on affirmative action program is positive.
Answer 8:
A landmark legislation, The Voting Rights Acts of 1965 prohibits the discrimination on the basis
of race in the country. During the heights of civil right movements on August 6. 1965 the same
was signed into a law to make it illegal to prohibit racial discrimination.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into a law on April 11, 1968 to protect the civil rights
of citizens of the country including Native American (Bates, 2018).

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References:
Bates, E. (2018). Stefan Sottiaux, Terrorism and the Limitation of Rights: The ECHR and the US
Constitution. Human Rights Law Review, 12(7), 509-510. doi: 10.1093/hrlr/ngp012
Goodman, D. (2017). Yes a Citizen of a State is Also a Citizen of the Several States Under the
Constitution. SSRN Electronic Journal, 2(2), 18-30. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1959745
Olsen, T. (2017). The political constitution of the EU citizen rights regime. Journal Of European
Public Policy, 21(3), 35-52. doi: 10.1080/13501763.2011.520875
Sloss, D. (2016). How International Human Rights Transformed the US Constitution. Human
Rights Quarterly, 38(2), 426-449. doi: 10.1353/hrq.2016.0027