Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Unit 3 will make up 13-18% of the AP Exam weight.
3.1.A.1 The U.S. Constitution includes a Bill of Rights specifically designed to protect individual liberties and rights.
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3.1.B.1 The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, which enumerate the liberties and rights of individuals.
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LOR-2.C.1 The interpretation and application of the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses reflect an ongoing tension between government power to make law an an individual's right to religious freedom.
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3.3.A.1 The Supreme Court has held that speech, including symbolic speech (nonverbal action that communicates an idea or belief), is protected by the First Amendment.
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3.3.A.2 Efforts to balance social order and individual freedom are reflected in interpretations of the First Amendment that limit speech, including:
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3.4.A.1 The Supreme Court bolstered the freedom of the press, affirming support for a heavy presumption against prior restraint even in cases involving national security.
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3.5.A.1 The Supreme Court’s decisions on the Second Amendment rest upon its constitutional interpretation of the right to bear arms.
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3.6.A.1 Court decisions defining cruel and unusual punishment involve interpretation of the Eighth Amendment and its application to death penalty statutes.
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LOR-3.A.1 The doctrine of selective incorporation has imposed limitations on state regulation of civil rights and liberties by extending select protections of the Bill of Rights to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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3.8.A.1 The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments include clauses which state that the government may not infringe on a person's right to life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The due process clause int he Fifth Amendment applies to the national government and the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment applies to states. Some government interests may justify the restriction of individual rights; for example, speech can be limited when it is shown to present a danger to public safety.
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i. The right to legal counsel, speedy and public trial, and an impartial jury.
ii. Protection against warrantless searches of cell phone data under the Fourth Amendment iii. Limitations placed on bulk collection of telecommunication metadata (Patriot and USA Freedom Acts) |
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3.9.A.1 Over time, the Supreme Court has recognized constitutionally protected rights that are not explicitly listed in the Bill of Rights. These unenumerated rights include the right to privacy. Justices and scholars have drawn on several arguments to defend the existence of unenumerated rights. Some argue that an unenumerated right is implied by certain amendments that assume the existence of such rights. Others argue that the Ninth Amendment, which states that individuals have protected rights beyond those listed in the first eight amendments, provides support for the existence of unenumerated rights.
In a range of cases, the Supreme Court has used substantive due process to examine whether government laws and actions are arbitrary infringements of individual rights. |
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3.10.A.1 Civil rights protect individuals from discrimination based on characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and sex; these rights are guaranteed to all citizens under the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, as well as acts of Congress.
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i. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and the civil rights movement of the 1960s
ii. The National Organization for Women and the women’s rights movement iii. The pro-life and pro-choice movements |
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3.11.A.1 The government can respond to social movements through court rulings and/ or policies.
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CON-6.A.1 Decisions demonstrating that minority rights have been restricted at times and protected at other times include:
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3.13.A.1 Affirmative action refers to policies intended to address workplace and educational disparities related to race, ethnic origin, gender, disability, and age. Supreme Court debate has focused on whether affirmative action is protected by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
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