Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment

Name:

Institutional Affiliation:

Assignment
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Part 1

1. If the language of the Bill of Rights is so clear, what is the source of conflicting

interpretation of it?

The primary source of the conflicting interpretations of the Bill of Rights is the frequent

policy changes that expand personal liberties and extend established freedoms into new domains.

This is because the expansion of civil liberties is often controversial due to frequently run up

against the ardent preferences of a majority of the citizenry, the nation's security needs, or even

the rights claims of others. What this means is that the prevailing conditions at any given point

significantly affect how the Bill of Rights is interpreted to answer to that particular issue.

2. What are Incorporation/Selective Incorporation and the impact it had on the

evolution of civil liberties?

Incorporation is the procedure of using the Fourteenth Amendment to make the Bill of

Rights binding on both the federal, and state governments. It was used as the third step in the

twentieth century when the constitution acquired civil liberties protections when the Supreme

Court interpreted this rule in altering the balance of power between Washington and the states,

and while in so doing dramatically, expanded the range of protections offered by the Bill of

Rights.

3. What does it mean to say that the Bill of Rights has been "nationalized"?
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When a Bill of Rights is nationalized, it means that the bill has gone through a procedure

by which the Supreme Court has applied most of the provisions in the Bill of Rights as

restrictions towards state and local governments via a due process clause of the Fourteenth

Amendment, and as such is considered national due to the fact that it has undergone this

established system to become law. In other words, it means that the states and other lower

governments have to abide by the amendments.

4. What were the origins of the 14th Amendment and how did this amendment expand

civil liberties protection?

Initially, the 14th Amendment came into being in 1868 when it was drafted with the

intentions of protecting former slaves through explicitly declaring that citizenship rights were not

subject to state controls. This amendment expanded the civil liberties protection through

establishing the grounds that states could not, and cannot violate the Bill of Rights by

contradicting the Court's ruling that state citizenship and national citizenship are separate

affiliations. It also established the due process of law, without which, civil liberties and rights

cannot be denied.

5. What are Penumbras, and what are their relationships to the protection and

interpretation of civil rights?

Penumbras are a group of rights derived, by implication, from other established rights

explicitly protected in the Bill of Rights. These rights play a crucial role in helping the Court

recognize as constitutional rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, and by doing so

provide grounds for expounding the rights specified in the constitution. Such rights include the
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right to privacy, which is not explicitly stated in the Bill of Rights or elsewhere in the

Constitution.

6. What was the constitutional question at stake in D.C. v. Heller (2008), and what

precedent did the final ruling overturn? What was the reasoning?

The question, in this case, was an individual's legal right to bear arms. This case

challenged the constitutionality of provisions of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975.

The Supreme Court's precedent overturned were the provisions of the Firearms Control Act of

1975 as unconstitutional. It reasoned that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual's

right to possess a firearm that is unconnected with service in the forces and to use that arm for

traditionally lawful purposes.

Part 2

1. Explain the differences between civil liberties and civil rights.

Typically, civil rights imply the fundamental right to be free from unequal treatment,

based on specific characteristics that may be deemed discriminatory like race, gender, and sexual

orientation, while civil liberties are the fundamental freedoms as guaranteed by the Bill of

Rights, and have been interpreted through the years by the judicial system. Simply put, civil

liberties are about the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution while civil

rights are the fundamental right to be free from discrimination in any social setting.

2. What benefits did African Americans get from the Reconstruction period? Why did

this change after the 1930s, and what led to the change?
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During the Reconstruction period, the black community enjoyed certain constitutional

benefits as being allowed to participate in political elections by voting, participating in the

political process, acquiring the lands of their former owners, seeking their employment, and

using public accommodations. However, the Southern whites did not welcome this change open

heartedly and were committed to keeping the blacks in a subservient position. They established

an exploitative system of sheer cropping, and domestic terror organizations like the Klan to

spread fear and terror among the black communities.

3. What party did most African Americans support before the 1930s and why? Why

did this change after the 1930s and what led to the change?

After the Civil War, and before 1930, the blacks mostly voted Republican. This is

because Lincoln as the first white Republican president was not a segregationist. However,

Roosevelt's election in 1932 as a Democrat marked the beginning of a new system for the black

community. This is because he was the first black man to be elected, thereby establishing the

Democratic party as a black party. This shift in parties went even further with Harry Truman's

election in 1948.

4. How did the civil rights demonstration of the 1960s change the political calculations

of politicians from the Democratic parties?

This demonstration enabled leaders like Kennedy to realize that losing the votes of civil

rights supporters could cost them the Democratic nominations. With a little pressure from this

move, black politicians distanced themselves from carefully cultivated southern politicians, and

senators allowed for the passage of the first civil rights act since Reconstruction. By

concentrating on the demands of the civil rights movement, politicians geared their political
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game plan to pleasing these groups to gain their support. They become more aware of the needs

these groups needed to be addressed.

5. What challenges do Hispanics face in their current civil rights struggle? How do

these differ from those faced by the blacks during their campaigns?

Hispanics have for decades utilized many of the same legal and judicial structures that

were built to protect African Americans, but they continue to face dire challenges in their

struggles such as the issue of national origin, which is different from what African Americans

experienced back in the day. This is because most Hispanics are faced with the question of

always going back to their country.

6. Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail to be ratified despite its initial

popularity?

The proposed amendment to the constitution in the late 1970s was well headed towards

ratification until Phyllis Schlafly mobilized and convinced conservative women in opposition

that the ERA would disadvantage housewives and cause them to be drafted into the military.

This created fear and drew back the women who were the largest supporters of this ratification.

7. How does the campaign for gay rights differ from prior civil rights campaigns?

The main difference between these two campaigns is that while the civil rights

movements were primarily comprised of only the black race, gay rights campaigns involve a

group of people drawn from all races, ethnic groups, and social standings. This blend makes it

easy to pull strings from multiple sides as opposed to the civil rights movement that only relied

on the racial front.