Lecture 6: Civil Liberties, cont’d

2nd amendment

Right to privacy

Patriot Act/ 9/11

II Amendment

• Right to bear arms- Ct said in 1939 right to bear arms tied to existence

of state militias- inconsistent lower court rulings

Right to “Privacy”

• Roe v Wade (1973)- mother has right to choose through second

trimester--point of viability outside the womb- Chipping away: Hyde Amendment- Casey: no more trimesters, instead “undue

burden”--hence waiting periods, parental consent - Access to services becoming more rare- 2006 South Dakota’s test ban

Right to Privacy, cont’d

• Bowers v Hardwick (1986)- Georgia sodomy law upheld

• Lawrence v Texas (2003)- Texas sodomy law overturned

Right to Privacy--right to die

• 1997 Ct: No constitutional right to die--states may ban assisted suicide

• 2006 Ct: Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act not in violation of a federal substance control law

Patriot Act

• Expanded third party surveillance powers under sec. 215

- no notification of directly concerned party- no judicial oversight/recourse for injunction- not “probable cause,” but assertion that the search

is part of an ongoing terrorist investigation

Bush and warrantless wiretaps

• 1978 Congress established exception to warrant requirement with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

• 2006 Bush argues:• 1) has authority as Commander in Chief in time of war

• 2) Congress’s authorization to fight terror gave right to conduct warrantless searches outside of FISA

Other 9/11 issues

• Extra-legal zones--Guantanamo- Ct in 2004: they are entitled to hearings in US courts

• Extra-legal persons--”enemy combatants”- Ct: citizens like Hamdi and Padilla still get lawyers and hearings

before a “neutral decision-maker”- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13176.htm

The torture issue

• Interpreting Geneva Conventions• The Geneva Conventions prohibit ''cruel treatment and torture'' and

''outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.''

• Extraordinary rendition and secret prisons

• 2006 Bush signs anti-torture law