1. Name _______Alyssa Lester______date _____March 27, 2012_____ class___8
___
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: WEbquest
A.Civil Liberties: Answer the following questions through graphics and text.
Plagiarism is not allowed.
1. Civil Liberties are the rights that belong to everyone; they are
protections against the government and are guaranteed by the
Constitution. Here are a few rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
Define the following terms, using the website below as a reference.
You can look elsewhere, but you must put these terms in your own
words.
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/wtp7e/full/ch/04/chapterreview
.aspx
a. Writ of habeas corpus
All prisoners must step in front of a court and justify their
imprisonment.
b. Bills of attainder
The Bills of the Attainder is when the legislature declares one guilty
giving them the usual trial.
c. Ex post facto laws
When a recent law punishes someone who committed the law prior to its
creation
d. Establishment Clause
No one, not even the Congress, has the power to establish an
official religion for the country.
e. Free Exercise Clause
All religious practices are accepted.
B.Protecting Civil Liberties:
1. List the Bill of Rights. (You should know these without using the
internet!)
1. Freedom of religion 6. Right for speedy and public trial
2. Right to bear arms 7. Trial with jury for civil cases
3. No quartering of 8. No cruel or unusual punishments
soldiers
4. No search and 9. These are not your only rights
seizures
5. No trial without jury 10. Powers not reserved for the Congress are reserved for
the people or states
C.Civil Liberty Cases Through History:

2. Name _______Alyssa Lester______date _____March 27, 2012_____ class___8
___
Go to the following website, and choose one Court Case in each category.
Highlight it. Then, describe the background and what was established in each of
them.
http://www.oyez.org/cases
Category Court Cases What happened and what was established?
(Choose 1 per box.)
Religion Lemon v. Pennslyvania students were required to pray in
Kurtzman school and recite the Lord’s Prayer. If parents did
(1971) not want their children to participate, a note had
to be written to the school.
Abington
School District
v. Schemp
(1963)
Santa Fe
Independent
School
District v. Doe
(2002)
Engle v. Vitale
(1962)
Speech (symbolic and Reynolds v. George Reynolds, a Mormon and practicing
written) United States polygamist was charged for being a polygamist.
(1879) He fought back declaring that it was a violation of
the First Amendment, and that the ‘freedom of
Gitlow v. New religion’ should secure his rights.
York (1925)
After much review, the Supreme Court decided to
Texas v. interpret the First Amendment with traditional
Johnson American values, declaring that the First
(1989) Amendment could not defend polygamy.
Assembly/Press/Piracy New York L.B. Sullivan, the Montgomery city commissioner,
Times v. felt that an ad that ran in the New York Times
Sullivan stating that MLK Jr.’s arrest was all apart of an
(1964) effort to destroy his movement and promote
integration was a personal attack on him
Roe v. Wade (Sullivan) and that all allegations were false.
(1973)
The Court protected the New York Times and
claimed that despite the fact that the allegations

3. Name _______Alyssa Lester______date _____March 27, 2012_____ class___8
___
may be false, the Times was allowed to publish
whatever they wanted (whether it be actually true
or not) thanks to the First Amendment.
Search and Seizure Mapp v. Ohio
(1961)
Trials
Miranda v.
Arizona Floridian authorities charged Gideon after he tried
(1932) to commit a misdemeanor. Gideon could not
afford a lawyer. He requested a counsel but was
Gideon v. denied and he had to represent himself in court,
Cruel and Unusual Wainwright where he was found guilty. The main issue was
Punishment (1963) the debate over whether defendants in non-
capital cases should automatically receive counsel
Escovedo v. and if that a previous case (Betts v. Brady) should
Illinois (1964) be overturned.
The Supreme Court overturned the case.
Gregg v.
Georgia
(1976)
D.Civil Liberty Cases Today:
1. Go to the following Website. Choose an article to read. Then complete
the following chart using complete sentences.
http://www.aclu.org/
Name of Article Casias vs. Wal-Mart
Civil Liberty This article discusses the civil liberties granted to the citizens of
Mentioned Michigan under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.
Summary of In 2008, Wal-Mart employee Joseph Casias was fired from his five-year
Article job after it was discovered that he was legally using medical marihuana
at home. Casias had be struggling with a tumor and sinus cancer for
(At least two full over a decade, and the previous medicine he had been taking gave him
paragraphs with severe nausea. His doctor eventually recommended prescribing him
issue and medical marihuana. Casias received his registry card from the Michigan
decision) Department of Community Health and complied with the state laws. He
immediately saw an improvement in his health- gaining back weight he
lost from chemotherapy and being able to go about his days with less
pain.
After being fired from his job, Casias immediately took the incident to
court. Scott Michelmann, a staff attorney with ACLU stated that no
employee should have to choose between his job or medicine, and no
employer should have the option to intrude on personal medical
decisions made between a patient and doctor.
After reviewing the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, the Federal Court
declared that there is no protection for patients such as Casias, since

4. Name _______Alyssa Lester______date _____March 27, 2012_____ class___8
___
the Act only provides criminal prosecution defense. Casias fought back
and brought forth a statement found in the Act declaring that any
occupational/business board or bureau cannot penalize all patients with
a registered card. The Court responded back stating that the word
“business” applied only to the ‘state board’. Casias lost the case.
An image to
capture your topic
1. Choose a Video to watch on the same website, and describe the
message the person is giving in it using the Lasswell Model. Use
complete sentences.
2. http://www.aclu.org/multimedia
(Copy and paste this link into your browser.)
Who: Two elementary aged Latino students
What: These two students are being singled out and have been
accused of being illegal immigrants
How: They were given letters (in Spanish) that informed them of
H.B. 56. One parent went to the principal to ask why the letter was
given to his daughter, and the principal bluntly stated that they
suspected she was an illegal immigrant.
When: November 2011
3. Go to the following website, and choose any topic to read about
related to the international violation of human rights. Then, type a
brief summary of the article.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news
Women in Afghanistan are being imprisoned for committing “moral”
crimes. A recent series of interviews highlights the stories of 58 different
women who have all found themselves in prison. Many of them told
stories of running away from violent arranged marriages, rape, unlawful
sex, and even being forced into prostitution. Many of these women never
have the chance to have an investigation on their cases. After the fall of
the Taliban, there was a promise of a new era for women’s rights, but
small progress has been made.

5. Name _______Alyssa Lester______date _____March 27, 2012_____ class___8
___
4. How could the government within your country better protect the “civil
liberties” of those afflicted in your article?
th
The 6 Amendment was the first solution I thought about while reading this article.
In the article, it states that women are not receiving any sort of trial or
investigation after their imprisonment. If Afghanistan created a law stating that
anyone arrested deserves a right to a trial, many of these women would be able to
actually be dismissed and go about their lives, especially since they are not
committing any crimes (except for in the case of unlawful sex). Also, the 5th
Amendment would be useful, seeing that many of these women want the
opportunity to have their cases further investigated.