American Government Written Assignment 2

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1 Written Assignment 2 Tausha Chambers American Government Dr. Tom Lansford January 26, 2024

2 1. The Constitution lists the powers of and limits on the federal government, but the Bill of Rights lists the guaranteed freedoms of the people. List four rights, each from a different amendment, and explain each. Are the rights you have chosen absolute? What is the Lemon test? Explain. 1 st Amendment: Freedom of Expression: Freedom of Speech: Freedom of speech allows us to express our opinions without any restrictions or censorship. This right is not absolute. General threats and incitement of a criminal act are not protected. Also, defamation of character is not protected by the 1 st amendment. Thus, allowing victims of false accusations to sue to recover damages. 2 nd Amendment: Right to Bear Arms: Right to bear arms has been controversial recently with mass shootings happening more frequently. The wording of the amendment has many questioning if this amendment was meant to allows “militias”/ Armies to bear arms or did the amendment apply to the general civilian? The amendment as its written affords Americans the right to own a weapon for lawful purposes such as self-defense of their property. This amendment is also not absolute. This is proven with how the courts have handled the strict laws put in place in San Francisco. 3 rd Amendment: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner: The 3 rd Amendment is not as popular today as it once was when the Revolutionary War was taking place. This amendment does not allow soldiers to camp inside a private citizens home without permission. This amendment like the ones before is not absolute. If the government found it plausible, although unlikely, they could force a home to be open to the soldiers. 5 th Amendment: Double Jeopardy protection: The 5 th amendment has many protections built into it including but not limited to right to a trial by a group of peers, right to not testify against yourself, and double jeopardy. Double jeopardy means a suspect cannot be prosecuted twice for the same criminal act. When I think about this protection, I do think of the movie ‘Double Jeopardy’. In the movie, a lady is setup and supposedly murdered her husband. She is convicted and put into jail. Later in the movie, the actress finds out that her husband is still alive. She then has the man murdered under the right that she cannot be prosecuted for killing him a second time. Now this protection was not made with the intent of a scenario like the one in the movie happening in a real-life situation, but the protection was ut into place that allows us to not be put on trial for a crime we were once found not guilty for. This

3 protection is not absolute since there is an exception that would allow you to be tried on a different level of government. If it was tried on the state level, the crime could potentially be heard on the federal level. Lemon Test: The Lemon Test helps in deciding whether a law of other government that might promote a particular religious practice should be allowed to stand. The law in question must pass the following three criteria to stay in effect. 1. The action of law must not lead to exercise government entanglement with religion. 2. The action or law cannot either inhibit or advance religion practice. It must be neutral. 3. The action of law must have some secular purpose. 2. Consider the Brandenburg v. Ohio case (1969). What is the current test limiting free speech, what is symbolic speech, and is any speech protected? Freedom of speech is not absolute. In other words, the right to speech is not always protected. In Branderburg V. Ohio, the supreme court found that a “direct call” or plan to imminent lawless action of an illegal act in the immediate future, can be suppressed.” If your words are showing action to deliberately break laws or hurt someone than you would not be protected under freedom of speech. Symbolic speech is re actions or article of clothing worn or performed to express an opinion. Examples of symbolic speech could be wearing an armband or raising of your fist in the air. Symbolic speech is given the same protections as written or spoken communication. 3. The due process clause has wide application. Explain procedural due process and relationship to the exclusionary rule, unreasonable searches and seizure, the plain view exception, good faith exceptions, and other rights of the accused. The rules for search and seizures have changed over the years. Today, Search and seizures still require a search warrant to be signed off by a judge, unless the owner gives consent or there is probable cause. The courts have found that a warrant is not needed to search the passenger compartment of a vehicle or search people when entering into our country from another. The exclusionary rule restricts evidence to be used in court if it was found without the proper permissions. This also includes evidence that was formulated or discovered as result of an illegal search or seizure. This rule does have its exceptions, such as the “Good faith exception”. The good faith evidence is allowed although found illegally because warrants over were not correctly issued. The “plain view exception” allows an officer to seize evidence or contraband without a warrant if it’s visible to the office. The accused also have rights found in the 5 th , 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th amendments. The 5 th amendment allows the accused to not testify themselves. The 6 th allows the accused to a speedy trial by jury of peers. The 7 th allows the accused a trial if

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