Civil Liberties Test

Freedom: the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc., in a community or the like; civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government.

Protection: the act of protecting or the state of being protected; preservation from injury or harm; a document that assures safety from harm, delay, or the like, for the person, persons, or property specified in it.



America is the land of the free, it even says so at the end of our national anthem. The whole basis upon which our country was founded was that our citizens would be free from tyranny, free from discrimination, and free from the control of a totalitarian government. Our country was also, however, founded upon the idea of protection and security from unfair trials, prejudice against our beliefs, and endangerment of our rights. When our freedoms collide with our protections, change occurs and new freedoms are created and protections lost or new protections are created and freedoms lost. Freedom cannot come without protection and sometimes one must be given up to ensure the survival of the other. Many of the freedoms which we as citizens know best are listed in the First Amendment (Freedom Of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, and Speech). These are also the freedoms which are most often disputed over to the extent which they extend and when they collide with our protections. Perhaps the most controversial and argued over freedom is the freedom of religion. Public schools are not allowed to promote or exercise any religious activities during school hours to protect people's freedom of religion. This was put to the test in the Engle v. Vitale case of 1961, when the school held a prayer time for students during school. The freedoms of the students were violated by the school and the act was deemed unconstitutional for violating the Establishment Clause which states the government is not allowed to support or establish any national religion. Because of this clause the government also faced another dilemma in the Lemon v. Kurtzman case in which state money was going to help support a private school and pay for teachers salaries and buy supplies. This too was deemed unconstitutional and created the Lemon Test in order to ensure that the government remained separate from religion in schools and that the freedom of religion remained protected. George W. Bush utilized this test for good by using it to provide federal money directly to churches for faith based initiatives such as soup kitchens. Another often disputed freedom deals with the 4Th Amendment and search and seizure. The Exclusionary Rule states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used against you in trial. In the Mapp v. Ohio case, Dolree Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene materials after police raided her home in search of a fugitive (an admittedly illegal search). The question was brought before the Supreme Court of whether these confiscated materials were protected by the first amendment and court found that all evidence obtained by search and seizures were inadmissible in the state court by the 4Th amendment. The question of the protection by the 4Th Amendment was brought forth again in the case of T.L.O. v. New Jersey, where a student was found with marijuana after what she felt was an illegal search of her belongings. The court found that the search did not violate the student's rights because a presence of rolling papers gave the principle probable cause to search the student and brought the attention that reasonable suspicion exists in schools too. Amendments 5 though 8 are known as the due process Amendments and are a process everyone must go through when going from an accused to a criminal. The Due Process Rights include citizens being provided with an attorney, the right to a speedy and public trial, a trial by jury, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. These protections were violated in the case of Gideon v. Wainright when Gideon was charged for breaking and entering and was convicted without being provided with an attorney, which was supposed to be guaranteed to him by the 6Th and 14Th Amendments. The court unanimously found that Gideon had right to be appointed an attorney and the 6Th Amendment's guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right which was essential to a fair trial. The line between freedoms and protections is a wavy one which changes over time as new situations arise and new freedoms are created or lost for the protection of our citizens.

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