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THE CONSTITUTION of the OF AMERICA

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION THE CONSTITUTION of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS

1 Constitution of the United States

40 The ACLU’s Ongoing Legacy —100 Landmark Supreme Court Cases

62 Know Your Rights

68 Affiliate Directory — A Nationwide Network

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Printed in the United States of America CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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ARTICLE I. Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.The Number of Representatives shall Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, each State shall have at Least one Representative; which shall consist of a Senate and House of and until such enumeration shall be made, the Representatives. State of shall be entitled to Section 2. [1] The House of Representatives chuse three, eight, Rhode Island shall be composed of Members chosen every and Providence Plantations one, five, second Year by the People of the several States, six, four, and the Electors in each State shall have the eight, one, six, ten, Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most five, five, and numerous Branch of the State Legislature. three. [2] No Person shall be a Representative who When vacancies happen in the Represen- shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five tation from any State, the Executive Authority Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such United States, and who shall not, when elected, Vacancies. be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be The House of Representatives shall chuse chosen. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have be apportioned among the several States which the sole Power of Impeachment. may be included within this Union, according Section 3. [1] The Senate of the United States to their respective Numbers, which shall be shall be composed of two Senators from each determined by adding to the whole Number of State, [chosen by the Legislature thereof,] (Note: free Persons, including those bound to Service for changed by the Seventeenth Amendment) for six Years; a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, and each Senator shall have one Vote. three fifths of all other Persons.] (Note: changed by [2] Immediately after they shall be assembled section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.) The in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be actual Enumeration shall be made within three divided as equally as may be into three Classes. Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall the United States, and within every subsequent be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of

2 3 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth [7] Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of not extend further than to removal from Office, the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office every second Year; [and if Vacancies happen by of honor,Trust or Profit under the United States: Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable of the Legislature of any State, the Executive and subject to Indictment,Trial, Judgment and thereof may make temporary Appointments until Punishment, according to Law. the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall Section 4. [1] The Times, Places and Manner of then fill such Vacancies.] (Note: changed by the holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, Seventeenth Amendment) shall be prescribed in each State by the Legisla- [3] No Person shall be a Senator who shall ture thereof; but the Congress may at any time by not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, the Places of chusing Senators. and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant [2] The Congress shall assemble at least once of that State for which he shall be chosen. in every Year, and such Meeting shall be [on the [4] The Vice President of the United States first Monday in December,] (Note: changed by shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no section 2 of the Twentieth Amendment) unless they Vote, unless they be equally divided. shall by Law appoint a different Day. [5] The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the the Absence of the Vice President, or when he Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own shall exercise the Office of President of the Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute United States. a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number [6] The Senate shall have the sole Power to may adjourn from day to day, and may be author- try all Impeachments.When sitting for that ized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each When the President of the United States is tried, House may provide. the Chief Justice shall preside:And no Person Each House may determine the Rules of shall be convicted without the Concurrence of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly two thirds of the Members present.

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Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two- United States which shall have been created, or thirds, expel a Member. the Emoluments whereof shall have been Each House shall keep a Journal of its encreased during such time; and no Person hold- Proceedings, and from time to time publish the ing any Office under the United States, shall be a same, excepting such Parts as may in their Member of either House during his Continuance Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays in Office. of the Members of either House on any question Section 7. All bills for raising Revenue shall shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, originate in the House of Representatives; but the be entered on the Journal. Senate may propose or concur with Amendments Neither House, during the Session of as on other Bills. Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, Every Bill which shall have passed the adjourn for more than three days, nor to any House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, other Place than that in which the two Houses before it become a Law, be presented to the shall be sitting. President of the United States: If he approve he Section 6. (The Senators and Representatives shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his shall receive a Compensation for their Services, Objections to that House in which it shall have to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the originated, who shall enter the Objections at Treasury of the United States.) (The preceding large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider words in parentheses were modified by the Twenty- it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that seventh Amendment.) They shall in all Cases, except House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be together with the Objections, to the other House, privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if the Session of their respective Houses, and in approved by two thirds of that House, it shall going to and returning from the same; and for become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and not be questioned in any other Place. Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for No Senator or Representative shall, during and against the Bill shall be entered on the the Time for which he was elected, be appointed Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill to any civil Office under the Authority of the shall not be returned by the President within ten

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Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress Weights and Measures; by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in To provide for the Punishment of counter- which Case it shall not be a Law. feiting the Securities and current Coin of the Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which United States; the Concurrence of the Senate and House of To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; Representatives may be necessary (except on a To promote the Progress of Science and question of Adjournment) shall be presented to useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to the President of the United States; and before the Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, their respective Writings and Discoveries; or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by To constitute Tribunals inferior to the two thirds of the Senate and House of supreme Court; Representatives, according to the Rules and To define and punish Piracies and Felonies Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. committed on the high Seas, and Offences against Section 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay the Law of Nations; and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and pay the Debts and provide for the common Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures Defence and general Welfare of the United States; on Land and Water; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uni- To raise and support Armies, but no form throughout the United States; Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for To borrow Money on the credit of the a longer Term than two Years; United States; To provide and maintain a Navy; To regulate Commerce with foreign To make Rules for the Government and Nations, and among the several States, and with Regulation of the land and naval Forces; the Indian Tribes; To provide for calling forth the Militia to To establish an uniform Rule of execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject Insurrections and repel Invasions; of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such

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Part of them as may be employed in the Service Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may of the United States, reserving to the States require it. respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law the Authority of training the Militia according to shall be passed. the discipline prescribed by Congress; (No Capitation, or other direct,Tax shall be To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.) Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular (Section in parentheses clarified by the Sixteenth States, and the acceptance of Congress, become Amendment.) the Seat of the Government of the United States, No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles and to exercise like Authority over all Places exported from any State. purchased by the Consent of the Legislature No Preference shall be given by any of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Erection of Forts, Magazines,Arsenals, dock-Yards, Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall and other needful Buildings;And Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to To make all Laws which shall be necessary enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. and proper for carrying into Execution the fore- No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, going Powers, and all other Powers vested by this but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Constitution in the Government of the United Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such shall be published from time to time. Persons as any of the States now existing shall No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by United States:And no Person holding any Office the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatev- dollars for each Person. er, from any King, Prince or foreign State. The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of

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Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing and Representatives to which the State may be the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or of Nobility. Representative, or Person holding an Office of No State shall, without the Consent of the Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports appointed an Elector. or Exports, except what may be absolutely neces- (The Electors shall meet in their respective States, sary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the and vote by Ballot for two persons, of whom one at least net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with them- State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use selves.And they shall make a List of all the Persons of the Treasury of the United States; and all such voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which Laws shall be subject to the Revision and List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to Controul of the Congress. the Seat of the Government of the United States, No State shall, without the Consent of directed to the President of the Senate.The President of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and Agreement or Compact with another State, or the Votes shall then be counted.The Person having the with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors will not admit of delay. appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the ARTICLE II. House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have in a President of the United States of America. a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the He shall hold his Office during the Term of four said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. Years, and, together with the Vice-President But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: by States, the Representation from each State having

12 13 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA one Vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and President shall be elected.) (This clause in parentheses a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a has been modified by Amendments 20 and 25.) Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the The President shall, at stated Times, receive President, the Person having the greatest Number of for his Services, a Compensation, which shall Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President.But if neither be increased nor diminished during the there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, Period for which he shall have been elected, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice and he shall not receive within that Period any President.) (This clause in parentheses was superseded other Emolument from the United States, or any by Amendment 12.) of them. The Congress may determine the Time of Before he enter on the Execution of his chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they Office, he shall take the following Oath or shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same Affirmation: throughout the United States. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will No person except a natural born Citizen, faithfully execute the Office of President of the or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of United States, and will to the best of my Ability, the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of to the Office of President; neither shall any the United States.” Person be eligible to that Office who shall not Section 2. The President shall be Commander in have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and Chief of the Army and Navy of the United been fourteen Years a Resident within the States, and of the Militia of the several States, United States. when called into the actual Service of the United (In Case of the Removal of the President from States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to the principal Officer in each of the executive discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, Departments, upon any Subject relating to the the Same shall devolve on the Vice President,and the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall Congress may by Law provide for the Case of have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the Offenses against the United States, except in President and Vice President,declaring what Officer Cases of Impeachment. shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act

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He shall have Power, by and with the Advice be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, the Officers of the United States. provided two thirds of the Senators present Section 4. The President,Vice President and all concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with civil Officers of the United States, shall be the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall removed from Office on Impeachment for, and appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Conviction of,Treason, Bribery, or other high Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all Crimes and Misdemeanors. other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided ARTICLE III. for, and which shall be established by Law: but Section 1. The judicial Power of the United the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in time to time ordain and establish.The Judges, the Heads of Departments. both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall The President shall have Power to fill up all hold their Offices during good Behavior, and Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall Compensation which shall not be diminished expire at the End of their next Session. during their Continuance in Office. Section 3. He shall from time to time give to Section 2. (The judicial Power shall extend to all the Congress Information of the State of the Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Union, and recommend to their Consideration Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and such Measures as he shall judge necessary and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other convene both Houses, or either of them, and in public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty Case of Disagreement between them, with and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may United States shall be a Party; to Controversies adjourn them to such Time as he shall think between two or more States; between a State and proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws States; between Citizens of the same State claiming

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Lands under Grants of different States, and between a Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, attainted. Citizens or Subjects.) (This section in parentheses is ARTICLE IV. modified by Amendment 11.) In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which given in each State to the public Acts, Records, a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall and judicial Proceedings of every other State. have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have the Manner in which such Acts, Records and appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect with such Exceptions, and under such thereof. Regulations as the Congress shall make. Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial Citizens in the several States. shall be held in the State where the said Crimes A Person charged in any State with Treason, shall have been committed; but when not Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from committed within any State, the Trial shall be at Justice, and be found in another State, shall on such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law Demand of the executive Authority of the State have directed. from which he fled, be delivered up, to be Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the consist only in levying War against them, or in Crime. adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and (No Person held to Service or Labour in one Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation there- same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. in, be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall The Congress shall have power to declare be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Service or Labour may be due.) (This clause in paren- Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or theses is superseded by Amendment 13.)

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Section 3. New States may be admitted by the be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Congress into this Union; but no new State shall Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of of three fourths of the several States, or by any other State; nor any State be formed by the Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, one or the other Mode of Ratification may be without the Consent of the Legislatures of the proposed by the Congress; Provided that no States concerned as well as of the Congress. Amendment which may be made prior to the The Congress shall have Power to dispose of Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall and make all needful Rules and Regulations in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses respecting the Territory or other Property in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that belonging to the United States; and nothing in no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived this Constitution shall be so construed as to of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of ARTICLE VI. any particular State. All Debts contracted and Engagements entered Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, every State in this Union a Republican Form shall be as valid against the United States under of Government, and shall protect each of them this Constitution, as under the Confederation. against Invasion; and on Application of the This Constitution, and the Laws of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the United States which shall be made in Pursuance Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be Violence. made, under the Authority of the United States, ARTICLE V. shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose the Contrary notwithstanding. Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the The Senators and Representatives before Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of mentioned, and the Members of the several State the several States, shall call a Convention for pro- Legislatures, and all executive and judicial posing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall Officers, both of the United States and of the

20 21 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA several States, shall be bound by Oath or North Carolina — Wm Blount, Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but Richd Dobbs Spaight, Hu Williamson no religious Test shall ever be required as a South Carolina — J. Rutledge, Qualification to any Office or public Trust Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, under the United States. ARTICLE VII. Georgia — , Abr Baldwin The Ratification of the Conventions of nine New Hampshire — John Langdon, States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of Nicholas Gilman this Constitution between the States so ratifying Massachusetts — , the Same. Connecticut — Wm Saml Johnson, Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent New York — of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand New Jersey — Wil Livingston, , seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Wm Paterson, Jona. Dayton Independence of the United States of America Pensylvania — B Franklin,, the Twelfth. In Witness whereof We have hereun- Robt Morris, Geo. Clymer,Thos FitzSimons, to subscribed our Names. , James Wilson, Gouv Morris Go Washington — President and deputy from Virginia Attest: Delaware — Geo. Read, Gunning Bedford jun, William Jackson, Secretary , Richard Bassett, Jaco. Broom Maryland — James McHenry, Dan of St Tho Jenifer, Danl Carroll Virginia — John Blair, Jr.

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AMENDMENTS AMENDMENT 4. TO THE CONSTITUTION The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be THE BILL OF RIGHTS violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon (the first 10 amendments) probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, was ratified December 15, 1791 and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. AMENDMENT 1. AMENDMENT 5. Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free otherwise infamous crime, unless on a present- exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of ment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in speech, or of the press, or the right of the people cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or Government for a redress of grievances. public danger; nor shall any person be subject AMENDMENT 2. for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor security of a free State, the right of the people to be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. due process of law; nor shall private property be AMENDMENT 3. taken for public use, without just compensation. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered AMENDMENT 6. in any house, without the consent of the Owner, In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall nor in time of war, but in a manner to be enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an prescribed by law. impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by

24 25 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA law, and to be informed of the nature and cause AMENDMENT 11. of the accusation; to be confronted with the Ratified 2/7/1795 witnesses against him; to have compulsory process The Judicial power of the United States shall not for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have be construed to extend to any suit in law or the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of AMENDMENT 7. the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right AMENDMENT 12. of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact Ratified 6/15/1804 tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in The Electors shall meet in their respective states any Court of the United States, than according to and vote by ballot for President and Vice- the rules of the common law. President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an AMENDMENT 8. inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive President, and in distinct ballots the person voted fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct inflicted. lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all AMENDMENT 9. persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage the government of the United States, directed to others retained by the people. the President of the Senate; AMENDMENT 10. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of The powers not delegated to the United States by Representatives, open all the certificates and the the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the votes shall then be counted; States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to The person having the greatest Number of the people. votes for President, shall be the President, if such

26 27 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA number be a majority of the whole number of constitutionally ineligible to the office of Electors appointed; and if no person have such President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President majority, then from the persons having the of the United States. highest numbers not exceeding three on the list AMENDMENT 13. of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by Ratified 12/6/1865 ballot, the President. But in choosing the [1.] Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, President, the votes shall be taken by states, the except as a punishment for crime whereof the representation from each state having one vote; party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a within the United States, or any place subject to member or members from two-thirds of the their jurisdiction. states, and a majority of all the states shall be [2.] Congress shall have power to enforce necessary to a choice.And if the House of this article by appropriate legislation. Representatives shall not choose a President AMENDMENT 14. whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next Ratified 7/9/1868 following, then the Vice-President shall act as [1.] All persons born or naturalized in the United President, as in the case of the death or other States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are constitutional disability of the President. citizens of the United States and of the State The person having the greatest number of wherein they reside. No State shall make or votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges if such number be a majority of the whole or immunities of citizens of the United States; number of Electors appointed, and if no person nor shall any State deprive any person of life, have a majority, then from the two highest liberty, or property, without due process of law; numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall equal protection of the laws. consist of two-thirds of the whole number of [2.] Representatives shall be apportioned Senators, and a majority of the whole number among the several States according to their shall be necessary to a choice. But no person respective numbers, counting the whole number

28 29 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA of persons in each State, excluding Indians not [4.] The validity of the public debt of the taxed. But when the right to vote at any election United States, authorized by law, including debts for the choice of electors for President and Vice- incurred for payment of pensions and bounties President of the United States, Representatives in for services in suppressing insurrection or rebel- Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a lion, shall not be questioned. But neither the State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, United States nor any State shall assume or pay is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrec- State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens tion or rebellion against the United States, or any of the United States, or in any way abridged, claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; except for participation in rebellion, or other but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be crime, the basis of representation therein shall held illegal and void. be reduced in the proportion which the number [5.] The Congress shall have power to of such male citizens shall bear to the whole enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions number of male citizens twenty-one years of age of this article. in such State. AMENDMENT 15. [3.] No person shall be a Senator or Repre- Ratified 2/3/1870 sentative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or [1.] The right of citizens of the United States to military, under the United States, or under any vote shall not be denied or abridged by the State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a United States or by any State on account of race, member of Congress, or as an officer of the color, or previous condition of servitude. [2.] The Congress shall have power to United States, or as a member of any State enforce this article by appropriate legislation. legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the AMENDMENT 16. United States, shall have engaged in insurrection Ratified 2/3/1913. or rebellion against the same, or given aid or The Congress shall have power to lay and collect comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, without apportionment among the several States, remove such disability. and without regard to any census or enumeration.

30 31 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AMENDMENT 17. United States and all territory subject to the Ratified 4/8/1913 jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is here- by prohibited. The Senate of the United States shall be com- [2.] The Congress and the several States shall posed of two Senators from each State, elected have concurrent power to enforce this article by by the people thereof, for six years; and each appropriate legislation. Senator shall have one vote.The electors in each [3.] This article shall be inoperative unless it State shall have the qualifications requisite for shall have been ratified as an amendment to the electors of the most numerous branch of the Constitution by the legislatures of the several State legislatures. States, as provided in the Constitution, within When vacancies happen in the representation seven years from the date of the submission here- of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of to the States by the Congress. of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided,That the legislature of AMENDMENT 19. any State may empower the executive thereof Ratified 8/18/1920 to make temporary appointments until the people The right of citizens of the United States to vote fill the vacancies by election as the legislature shall not be denied or abridged by the United may direct. States or by any State on account of sex. This amendment shall not be so construed Congress shall have power to enforce this as to affect the election or term of any Senator article by appropriate legislation. chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. AMENDMENT 20. Ratified 1/23/1933 AMENDMENT 18. Ratified 1/16/1919 [1.] The terms of the President and Vice President Repealed by Amendment 21, 12/5/1933 shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at [1.] After one year from the ratification of this noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of which such terms would have ended if this article intoxicating liquors within, the importation had not been ratified; and the terms of their thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the successors shall then begin.

32 33 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

[2.] The Congress shall assemble at least once [6.] This article shall be inoperative unless it in every year, and such meeting shall begin at shall have been ratified as an amendment to the noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths by law appoint a different day. of the several States within seven years from the [3.] If, at the time fixed for the beginning of date of its submission. the term of the President, the President elect shall AMENDMENT 21. have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been Ratified 12/5/1933 chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of [1.] The eighteenth article of amendment to the his term, or if the President elect shall have failed Constitution of the United States is hereby to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as repealed. President until a President shall have qualified; [2.] The transportation or importation into and the Congress may by law provide for the case any State,Territory, or possession of the United wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating President elect shall have qualified, declaring who liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby shall then act as President, or the manner in prohibited. which one who is to act shall be selected, and [3.] The article shall be inoperative unless it such person shall act accordingly until a President shall have been ratified as an amendment to the or Vice President shall have qualified. Constitution by conventions in the several States, [4.] The Congress may by law provide for as provided in the Constitution, within seven the case of the death of any of the persons from years from the date of the submission hereof to whom the House of Representatives may choose the States by the Congress. a President whenever the right of choice shall AMENDMENT 22. have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Ratified 2/27/1951 Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the [1.] No person shall be elected to the office of right of choice shall have devolved upon them. the President more than twice, and no person [5.] Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the who has held the office of President, or acted as 15th day of October following the ratification of President, for more than two years of a term to this article. which some other person was elected President

34 35 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA shall be elected to the office of the President election of President and Vice President, to be more than once. But this Article shall not apply to electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet any person holding the office of President, when in the District and perform such duties as this Article was proposed by the Congress, and provided by the twelfth article of amendment. shall not prevent any person who may be holding [2.] The Congress shall have power to the office of President, or acting as President, enforce this article by appropriate legislation. during the term within which this Article AMENDMENT 24. becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the Ratified 1/23/1964 remainder of such term. [1.] The right of citizens of the United States to [2.] This article shall be inoperative unless vote in any primary or other election for it shall have been ratified as an amendment to President or Vice President, for electors for the Constitution by the legislatures of three- President or Vice President, or for Senator or fourths of the several States within seven years Representative in Congress, shall not be denied from the date of its submission to the States by or abridged by the United States or any State by the Congress. reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. [2.] The Congress shall have power to AMENDMENT 23. enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Ratified 3/29/1961 AMENDMENT 25. [1.] The District constituting the seat of Govern- ment of the United States shall appoint in such Ratified 2/10/1967 manner as the Congress may direct:A number of [1.] In case of the removal of the President from electors of President and Vice President equal to office or of his death or resignation, the Vice the whole number of Senators and Representa- President shall become President. tives in Congress to which the District would be [2.] Whenever there is a vacancy in the entitled if it were a State, but in no event more office of the Vice President, the President shall than the least populous State; they shall be in nominate a Vice President who shall take office addition to those appointed by the States, but upon confirmation by a majority vote of both they shall be considered, for the purposes of the Houses of Congress.

36 37 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

[3.] Whenever the President transmits to the written declaration that the President is unable to President pro tempore of the Senate and the discharge the powers and duties of his office. Speaker of the House of Representatives his Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assem- written declaration that he is unable to discharge bling within forty eight hours for that purpose if the powers and duties of his office, and until he not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one transmits to them a written declaration to the days after receipt of the latter written declaration, contrary, such powers and duties shall be dis- or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty charged by the Vice President as Acting President. one days after Congress is required to assemble, [4.] Whenever the Vice President and a determines by two thirds vote of both Houses majority of either the principal officers of the that the President is unable to discharge the executive departments or of such other body as powers and duties of his office, the Vice President Congress may by law provide, transmit to the shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President pro tempore of the Senate and the President; otherwise, the President shall resume Speaker of the House of Representatives their the powers and duties of his office. written declaration that the President is unable AMENDMENT 26. to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the Ratified 7/1/1971 powers and duties of the office as Acting [1.] The right of citizens of the United States, President. who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote Thereafter, when the President transmits to shall not be denied or abridged by the United the President pro tempore of the Senate and the States or by any State on account of age. Speaker of the House of Representatives his [2.] The Congress shall have power to written declaration that no inability exists, he enforce this article by appropriate legislation. shall resume the powers and duties of his office AMENDMENT 27. unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department Ratified 5/7/1992 or of such other body as Congress may by law No law, varying the compensation for the services provide, transmit within four days to the of the Senators and Representatives, shall take President pro tempore of the Senate and the effect, until an election of Representatives shall Speaker of the House of Representatives their have intervened.

38 39 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY

4 1932: POWELL V. ALABAMA. This appeal THE ACLU’s ONGOING LEGACY by the “Scottsboro Boys” — eight African Americans wrongfully accused of raping two Landmark Supreme Court decisions in white women — was the first time constitutional standards were applied to state criminal proceed- which the ACLU played a major role, either ings.The poor performance of their lawyers at the as direct counsel or as friend-of-the-court. trial deprived them of their 6th Amendment right to effective counsel. 1 1925: GITLOW V. NEW YORK. Gitlow’s con- viction for distributing a pamphlet calling for the 5 1935: PATTERSON V.ALABAMA. A second overthrow of the government was upheld. But the “Scottsboro Boys” decision held that excluding ACLU’s first Supreme Court landmark established from the jury list denied the defendant a fair trial. that the 14th Amendment “incorporates” the First 6 1937: DEJONGE V. OREGON. A conviction Amendment’s free speech clause and therefore under a state criminal syndicalism statute for applies to the states. merely attending a peaceful Communist Party 2 1927: WHITNEY V. CALIFORNIA. Whitney’s rally was deemed a violation of free speech rights. conviction for membership in a group advocating 7 1938: LOVELL V. GRIFFIN. In this case on the overthrow of the state was upheld. But Justice behalf of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Georgia ordinance Brandeis laid the groundwork for modern First prohibiting the distribution of “literature of any Amendment law in a separate opinion, in which kind” without a city manager’s permit, was he argued that under a “clear and present danger” deemed a violation of religious liberty. test, the strong presumption should be in favor of 8 1941: HAGUE V. CIO. Invalidating the “more speech, not enforced silence.” repressive actions of Jersey City’s anti-union 3 1931: STROMBURG V. CALIFORNIA. A Mayor,“Boss” Hague, the Supreme Court ruled California law leading to the conviction of a that freedom of assembly applies to public communist who displayed a red flag was over- forums, such as “streets and parks.” turned on the grounds that the law was vague, in 9 1941: EDWARDS V. CALIFORNIA. An “anti- violation of the First Amendment. Okie” law that made it a crime to transport

40 41 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY poor people into California was struck down as a 15 1951: KUNZ V. NEW YORK. The Supreme violation of the right to interstate travel. Court ruled that a permit to speak in a public 10 1944: SMITH V. ALLWRIGHT. This early forum could not be denied because a person’s civil rights victory invalidated Texas’“white speech had, on a former occasion, resulted in primary” as a violation of the right to vote under civil disorder. the 15th Amendment. 16 1952: ROCHIN V. CALIFORNIA. Reversing 11 1946: HANNEGAN V. ESQUIRE. In a the conviction of a man whose stomach had blow against censorship, this decision limited been forcibly pumped for drugs by police, the postmaster general’s power to withhold the Court ruled that the 14th Amendment’s Due mailing privileges for magazines containing Process Clause outlaws “conduct that shocks “offensive” material. the conscience.” 12 1947: EVERSON V. BOARD OF EDUCATION. 17 1954: BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION. Justice Black’s pronouncement that,“In the words One of the century’s most significant Court of Jefferson, the Clause… was intended to erect a decisions declared racially segregated schools ‘wall of separation’ between church and State…” unconstitutional, wiping out the “separate but was the Court’s first major utterance on the equal” doctrine announced in the infamous 1896 meaning of the Establishment Clause. Plessy v. Ferguson decision. 13 1948: SHELLEY V. KRAEMER. This major 18 1957: WATKINS V. UNITED STATES. civil rights victory invalidated restrictive The investigative powers of the House Un- covenants, or contractual agreements among American Activities Committee were curbed on white homeowners not to sell their houses to First Amendment grounds when the Court people of color. reversed a labor leader’s conviction for refusing to answer questions about membership in the 14 1949: TERMINIELLO V. CHICAGO. In this Communist Party. exoneration of a priest convicted of disorderly conduct for giving a racist, anti-semitic speech, 19 1958: KENT V. DULLES. The State Justice William O. Douglas stated,“the function of Department overstepped its authority in denying free speech under our system of government is to a passport to artist Rockwell Kent, who refused invite dispute.” to sign a “noncommunist affidavit,” since the right

42 43 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY to travel is protected by the Fifth Amendment’s 25 1963: GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT. An indigent Due Process Clause. drifter from Florida made history when, in a 20 1958: SPEISER V. RANDALL. ACLU handwritten petition, he persuaded the Court lawyer Lawrence Speiser successfully argued his that poor people charged with a felony had the challenge to a California law requiring that right to a state-appointed lawyer. veterans sign a loyalty oath to qualify for a 26 1961: MAPP V. OHIO. The Fourth property tax exemption. Amendment’s Exclusionary Rule — barring the 21 1958: TROP V. DULLES. Stripping an introduction of illegally seized evidence in a American of his citizenship for being a deserter criminal trial — first applied to federal law in World War II was deemed cruel and unusual enforcement officers in 1914, applied to state and punishment, in violation of the Eighth local police as well. Amendment. 27 1963: ABINGDON SCHOOL DISTRICT V. 22 1959: SMITH V. CALIFORNIA. A bookseller SCHEMPP. Building on Engel, the Court struck could not be found guilty of selling obscene Pennsylvania’s in-school Bible reading law as a material unless it was proven that he or she was violation of the First Amendment. familiar with the contents of the book. 28 1964: ESCOBEDO V. ILLINOIS. Invoking 23 1961: POE V. ULLMAN.This unsuccessful the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, the challenge to Connecticut’s ban on the sale of trial Court threw out the confession of a man whose contraceptives set the stage for the 1965 Griswold repeated requests to see his lawyer, throughout decision. Justice John Harlan argues in dissent that many hours of police interrogation, were ignored. the law was “an intolerable invasion of privacy in 29 1964: NEW YORK TIMES V. SULLIVAN. the conduct of one of the most intimate concerns Public officials cannot recover damages for of an individual’s private life.” defamation unless they prove a newspaper 24 1962: ENGEL V. VITALE. In striking down impugned them with “actual malice.”A city the New York State Regent’s “nondenominational” commissioner in Montgomery,Alabama, sued school prayer, the Court declared “it is no part over publication of a full-page ad paid for by civil of the business of government to compose official rights activists. prayers.”

44 45 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY

30 1964: JACOBELLIS V. OHIO. The Court 35 1965: GRISWOLD V. CONNECTICUT. overturned a theater owner’s conviction for Invalidated a Connecticut law forbidding the use showing the film The Lovers, by Louis Malle, and of contraceptives on the grounds that a right of Justice Potter Stewart admitted that although he “marital privacy,” though not specifically guaran- could not define “obscenity,” he knew it when teed in the Bill of Rights, is protected by “several he saw it. fundamental constitutional guarantees.” 31 1964: REYNOLDS V. SIMS.This historic 36 1966: MIRANDA V. ARIZONA. The Court civil rights decision, which applied the “one held that a suspect in police custody has a Sixth person, one vote” rule to state legislative districts, Amendment right to counsel and a Fifth was regarded by Chief Justice Earl Warren as the Amendment right against self-incrimination, and most important decision of his tenure. established the “Miranda warnings” requirement 32 1964: CARROLL V. PRINCESS ANNE that police inform suspects of their rights before COUNTY.A county’s decision to ban a rally interrogating them. without notifying the rally organizers of the 37 1966: BOND V. FLOYD. The Georgia state injunction proceeding was invalidated on free legislature was ordered to seat State Senator-Elect speech grounds. Julian Bond who had been denied his seat for 33 1965: U.S. V. SEEGER. One of the publicly supporting Vietnam War draft resisters. first anti-Vietnam War decisions extended Criticizing U.S. foreign policy, said the Court, conscientious objector status to those who do does not violate a legislator’s oath to uphold not believe in a supreme being, but who oppose the Constitution. war based on sincere beliefs that are equivalent 38 1967: KEYISHIAN V. BOARD OF REGENTS. to religious objections. Struck down a Cold War-era law that required 34 1965: LAMONT V. POSTMASTER GENERAL. public school teachers to sign a loyalty oath. Struck down a Cold War-era law that required Public employment is not a “privilege” to which the postmaster general to detain and destroy government can attach whatever conditions all unsealed mail from abroad deemed to be it pleases. “communist political propaganda”— unless the 39 1967: IN RE GAULT. Established specific addressee requested delivery in writing. due process requirements for state delinquency

46 47 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY proceedings and stated, for the first time, 44 1968: WASHINGTON V. LEE. Alabama the broad principle that young persons have statutes requiring racial segregation in the state’s constitutional rights. prisons and jails were declared unconstitutional 40 1967: LOVING V. VIRGINIA. Invalidated the under the Fourteenth Amendment. anti-miscegenation laws of Virginia and 15 45 1969: BRANDENBURG V. OHIO. The ACLU southern states. Criminal bans on interracial achieved victory in its 50-year struggle against marriage violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal laws punishing political advocacy.The Court Protection Clause and “the freedom to marry,” agreed that the government could only penalize which the Court called “one of the basic civil direct incitement to imminent lawless action, rights of man” (sic). thus invalidating the Smith Act and all state 41 1968: EPPERSON V. ARKANSAS. Arkansas’ sedition laws. ban on teaching “that mankind ascended or 46 1969: TINKER V. DES MOINES. Suspending descended from a lower order of animals” was a public school students for wearing black armbands violation of the First Amendment, which forbids to protest the Vietnam War was unconstitutional official religion. since students do not “shed their constitutional 42 1968: LEVY V. LOUISIANA. Invalidated a rights to freedom of speech or expression at the state law that denied an illegitimate child the schoolhouse gate.” right to recover damages for a parent’s death.The 47 1969: GREGORY V. CHICAGO. The Court ruling established the principle that the accidental unanimously overturned a conviction of circumstance of a child’s birth does not justify disorderly conduct against Dick Gregory and discrimination. others who picketed Chicago’s Mayor Daley. 43 1968: KING V. SMITH. Invalidated the When disorder is created by a hostile audience, “man in the house” rule that denied welfare to peaceful demonstrators cannot be arrested children whose unmarried mothers lived with because of a “heckler’s veto.” men.The decision benefited an estimated 500,000 48 1969: STREET V. NEW YORK. A state poor children who had previously been excluded law under which a man was convicted for from aid. burning the American flag to protest the

48 49 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers 54 1971: U.S. V. VUITCH. Although the was unconstitutional. Court upheld a statute used to convict a doctor 49 1969: WATTS V. U.S. Threats against the life who had per-formed an illegal abortion, it of the President of the U.S., if they were no more expanded the “life an health of the woman” than “political hyperbole,” are protected by the concept to include “psychological well-being,” First Amendment. thereby allowing more women to obtain legal “therapeutic” abortions. 50 1970: GOLDBERG V. KELLY. Setting in motion what has been called the “procedural due 55 1972: EISENSTADT V. BAIRD. In an exten- process revolution,” the Court ruled that welfare sion of the Court’s evolving privacy doctrine, the recipients were entitled to notice and a hearing conviction of a reproductive rights activist who before the state could terminate their benefits. had given an unmarried Massachusetts woman a contraceptive device was reversed. 51 1971: COHEN V. CALIFORNIA. Convicting an anti-war protester of disturbing the peace for 56 1972: FURMAN V. GEORGIA. This decision wearing a jacket that bore the words,“Fuck the led to a four-year halt to executions nationwide draft,” was unconstitutional.The government when the Court ruled that existing state death cannot prohibit speech just because it is “offensive.” penalty statutes were “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of the Eighth Amendment. 52 1971: U.S. V. NEW YORK TIMES. Enjoining the press from publishing the Pentagon Papers, 57 1973: FRONTIERO V. RICHARDSON. Struck leaked by a former Defense Department official, down a federal law that allowed a woman in was an unconstitutional prior restraint which was the armed forces to claim her husband as a not justified by national security interests. “dependent” only if he depended on her for more than half of his support, while a serviceman 53 1971: REED V. REED. Struck down a state could claim “dependent” status for his wife law that gave automatic preference to men over regardless of actual dependency. women as administrators of decedents’ estates. This was the Court’s first ruling that sex-based 58 1973: HOLTZMAN V. SCHLESINGER. The classifications violated the Equal Protection ACLU took on Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman’s Clause of the 14th Amendment. lawsuit to halt the bombing of Cambodia as an

50 51 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY unconstitutional Presidential usurpation of suspend a student for up to ten days without a Congress’ authority to declare war. Although hearing. Students are entitled to notice and a a federal order to stop the bombing was even- hearing before a significant disciplinary action can tually overturned, the bombing was halted for be taken against them. a few hours. 63 1975: O’CONNOR V. DONALDSON. In its 59 1973: ROE V. WADE/DOE V. BOLTON. first “right to treatment” decision, the Court ruled Recognizing a woman’s constitutional right to that mental illness alone did not justify “simple terminate a pregnancy, Roe erased all existing custodial confinement” on an indefinite basis criminal abortion laws. Its companion case, in the case of a non-violent patient who had Doe, established that it is attending physician been involuntarily held in a mental institution for who determines, in light of all factors relevant 15 years. to a woman’s well-being, whether an abortion 64 1976: BUCKLEY V. VALEO. This challenge is “necessary.” to the limits on campaign spending imposed by 60 1974: SMITH V. GOGUEN. A Massachusetts amendments to the Federal Elections Campaign state law that made it a crime to treat the Act represented a partial victory for free speech, American flag “contemptuously” was found by as the Court struck down the Act’s restrictions on the Court to be void for vagueness. spending “relative to a candidate.” 61 1974: U.S. V. NIXON. In the only amicus 65 1977: WOOLEY V. MAYNARD. New brief filed in this critical case, the ACLU argued: Hampshire law that prohibited a Jehovah’s Witness “There is no proposition more dangerous to the from covering up the license plate slogan “Live health of a constitutional democracy than the Free or Die” was invalidated by the Court as a notion that an elected head of state is above the denial of the “right not to speak.” law and beyond the reach of judicial review.”The 66 1978: SMITH V. COLLIN. A Nazi group Court agreed, and ordered Nixon to hand over wanted to march through a Chicago suburb, crucial Watergate tapes to the Special Prosecutor. Skokie, where many Holocaust survivors lived. 62 1975: GOSS V. LOPEZ. Invalidated a state The ACLU’s controversial challenge to the village’s law authorizing a public school principal to ban on the march was ultimately successful.

52 53 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY

67 1978: IN RE PRIMUS. An ACLU 70 1983: BOB JONES UNIVERSITY V. UNITED cooperating attorney had been reprimanded for STATES. Two fundamentalist Christian colleges “improper solicitation” by the state supreme court that practiced racial discrimination lost their tax for encouraging poor women to challenge the exempt status.The IRS can set rules enforcing a state’s sterilization of welfare recipients.The “settled public policy” against racial discrimina- Court distinguished between lawyers who solicit tion in education. “for pecuniary gain” and those who do so to 71 1985: WALLACE V. JAFFREE. Alabama’s “further political and ideological goals through “moment of silence” law, which required public associational activity.” school children to take a moment “for meditation 68 1980: PRUNE YARD SHOPPING CENTER or voluntary prayer,” violated the First Amend- V. ROBINS. Shopping mall owners appealed a ment’s Establishment Clause. California state court ruling that a shopping 72 1986: EDWARD V. AGUILLARD. In a case center allow distribution of political pamphlets on reminiscent of the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial, its premises.The Court rejected the owners’ the Court struck down a Louisiana law that property rights claim, and ruled that a mall was required public school science teachers to give comparable to streets and sidewalks. “equal time” to so-called creation science if they 69 1982: BOARD OF EDUCATION, ISLAND taught students about the theory of evolution. TREES SCHOOL DISTRICT V. PICO. Students 73 1989: TEXAS V. JOHNSON. In invalidating successfully sued their school board on First the Texas flag desecration statute, the Court Amendment grounds for removing certain provoked President Bush to propose a federal ban “objectionable books” from the school library. on flag burning or mutilation. Congress swiftly While acknowledging a school’s right to remove obliged, but the Court struck down that law a material that was “pervasively vulgar” or year later in United States v. Eichman — in “educationally unsuitable,” the Court held that which the ACLU also filed a brief. in this case, the students’ First Amendment “right to know” had been violated. 74 1990: CRUZAN V. DIRECTOR OF THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. In the Court’s first right-to-die case, the ACLU

54 55 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY represented the family of a woman who had been religion was overturned as a violation of religious in a persistent vegetative state for more than seven liberty since the city did permit such secular years. Although the Court did not go as far as the activities as hunting and fishing. ACLU urged, it did recognize living wills as clear 80 1993: WISCONSIN V. MITCHELL. and convincing evidence of a patient’s wishes. Wisconsin’s “hate crime” statute, providing for 75 1992: R.A.V. V. WISCONSIN. A unanimous additional criminal penalties if a jury found that Court struck down as overly broad a local law a defendant “intentionally selected” a victim banning the display, on public or private property, based on “race, religion, color, disability, sexual of any symbol “that arouses anger, alarm or orientation, national origin or ancestry,” did not resentment in others on the basis of race, color, violate the First Amendment because the statute creed, religion or gender.” punished acts, not thoughts or speech. 76 1992: PLANNED PARENTHOOD V. CASEY. 81 1994: LADUE V. GILLEO.A Missouri town’s Although the Court upheld parts of ordinance that barred a homeowner from posting Pennsylvania’s restrictive abortion law, it also a sign in her bedroom window that said,“Say No reaffirmed the “central holding” of Roe v.Wade to War in the Gulf — Call Congress Now!” was that abortions performed prior to viability deemed to violate the First Amendment. cannot be prohibited by the state. 82 1995: MCINTYRE V. OHIO ELECTIONS 77 1992: LEE V. WEISMAN. The inclusion of COMMISSION. A state prohibition against the a prayer at the beginning of a public high school anonymous distribution of political campaign graduation ceremony violated the Establishment literature violated the right to anonymous Clause. free speech. 78 1993: J.E.B. V. T.B. A prosecutor could not 83 1995: CAPITOL SQUARE REVIEW BOARD V. use peremptory challenges to disqualify potential PINETTE. Upheld the right of the KKK to put jurors based solely on their gender. up a cross in an area in front of the Ohio State 79 1993: CHURCH OF THE LUKUMI BABLU Capitol building that was a traditional public AYE V. HIALEAH. A city’s ban on the ritual forum used by many other groups, rejecting slaughter of animals as practiced by the Santeria Ohio’s argument that allowing the display violated the separation of church and state.

56 57 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY

84 1995: HURLEY V. IRISH AMERICAN GAY, persons in the early stages of HIV infection, even LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL GROUP OF BOSTON. if they did not have any overt symptoms of AIDS. Upheld the right of private groups to exclude 89 1998: ONCALE V. SUNDOWNER OFFSHORE participants from their parades who do not share SERVICES. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the values and message the parade sponsors wish which prohibits sexual discrimination and harass- to communicate. ment in the workplace, applies to same-sex as 85 1996: ROMER V. EVANS. In this first gay well as opposite sex harassment. rights victory, the Court invalidated a state 90 1999: CHICAGO V. MORALES. Struck down constitutional amendment, passed by public Chicago’s anti-gang loitering law which dispro- referendum in Colorado, that prohibited the state portionately targeted African American and and its municipalities from enacting gay rights Latino youth who were not engaged in criminal laws. activity, and resulted in the arrest of 45,000 86 1997: RENO V. ACLU. The Court struck innocent people. down Congress’ Communications Decency Act, 91 1999: SAENZ V. ROE. Invalidated California’s which was an attempt to censor the Internet by 12-month residency requirement for welfare banning “indecent” speech, ruling that “the applicants new to the state as a violation of the interest in encouraging freedom of expression in constitutional right to travel, and reaffirmed the a democratic society outweighs any theoretical principal that citizens select states; states do not but unproven benefit of censorship.” select citizens. 87 1997: CHANDLER V. MILLER. Struck 92 2000: STENBERG V. CARHART. A ban on down a Georgia law requiring candidates for so-called “partial-birth” abortions was struck political office to take a urine drug test on the down as unconstitutional because it did not grounds that it violated the candidates’ Fourth adequately protect women’s health and because Amendment right to privacy. its broad wording threatened to outlaw many 88 1998: BRAGDON V. ABBOTT.The anti- common methods of abortion. discrimination provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act were interpreted to apply to

58 59 THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY THE ACLU’S ONGOING LEGACY

93 2001: ATKINS V. VIRGINIA. Reversing its between same-sex couples, expanding the privacy 1999 decision, the Court ruled that execution of rights of all Americans and promoting the right the mentally retarded is unconstitutional under of lesbians and gay men to equal treatment under the Eighth Amendment. the law. 94 2000: SANTA FE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL 98 2004: McCREARY COUNTY V. ACLU OF DISTRICT V. DOE. The Court ruled that a school KENTUCKY. The Court held that the government district policy permitting its student body to vote could not display the Ten Commandments in two at the beginning of each school year whether to county courthouses for the purpose of promoting have prayers before football games violated the religion. Establishment Clause. 99 2004: ROPER V. SIMMONS. The juvenile 95 2001: INS V. ST. CYR. The Court ruled death penalty was finally declared unconstitutional that immigrants are entitled to challenge their as a form of cruel and unusual punishment. deportation orders through habeas corpus 100 2006: HAMDAN V. RUMSFELD. In June proceedings, rejecting the Attorney General’s 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the military claim that Congress had stripped the courts of commissions system established by President Bush jurisdiction and reversing retroactive application to try detainees at Guantánamo Bay is unfair and of the deportation statute. illegal. The court found the military commission 96 2002: GRUTTER V. BOLLINGER/GRATZ V. rules do not guarantee independent trial BOLLINGER. Providing a strong endorsement of proceedings, do not provide for impartial appellate affirmative action in higher education, the Court review and do not prohibit the use of coerced held that public universities have a compelling testimony despite extensive evidence that coercive interest in creating a diverse student body and interrogation techniques have been used at that race may be treated as a “plus” factor in the Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere.The ACLU filed admissions process. an amicus brief in that case. 97 2002: LAWRENCE V. TEXAS. The Court struck down a Texas sodomy statute that criminalized private acts of sexual intimacy

60 61 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE STOPPED BY THE POLICE It is said that “Civil Liberties is a product delivered locally.”A prime example is the “What to Do if Think carefully about your words, movement, You Are Stopped by the Police” wallet card, body language, and emotions. versions of which have been used for decades by Don’t get into an argument with the police. the ACLU to raise the “civil rights literacy” of Remember, anything you say or do can be used against you. tens of thousands of people in communities across Keep your hands where the police can see them. the country. Notably, versions of the cards were Don’t run. Don’t touch any police officer. produced for people of Arab and South Asian Don’t resist even if you believe you are innocent. descent following the September 11th attacks. Don’t complain on the scene or tell the Another version addressed the issue of police police they’re wrong or that you’re going to file harassment encountered by people displaced by a complaint. Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, after escalating Do not make any statements regarding the incidents of racial profiling in Jackson, Mississippi, incident.Ask for a lawyer immediately upon your arrest. the city’s mayor threatened the ACLU for its Remember officers’ badge and patrol car announced plans to hold meetings to inform numbers. residents of their rights if stopped by the police, Write down everything you remember ASAP. saying,“I hope they don’t obstruct justice and Try to find witnesses and their names and give people false information because if they do, phone numbers. then we’ll be focusing on them and we’ll come If you are injured, take photographs of the after them.” injuries as soon as possible, but make sure you seek medical attention first.

62 63 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

If you feel your rights have been violated, file a written complaint with the police department’s IF YOU ARE STOPPED internal affairs division or civilian complaint board. FOR QUESTIONING 1. It’s not a crime to refuse to answer questions, 1. What you say to the police is always important. but refusing to answer can make the police What you say can be used against you, and it can suspicious about you. If you are asked to identify give the police an excuse to arrest you, especially yourself, see paragraph 2 on page 64. if you bad-mouth a police officer. 2. Police may “pat-down” your clothing if they 2. You must show your driver’s license and suspect a concealed weapon. Don’t physically registration when stopped in a car. Otherwise, resist, but make it clear that you don’t consent to you don’t have to answer any questions if you any further search. are detained or arrested, with one important exception.The police may ask for your name if 3. Ask if you are under arrest. If you are, you you have been properly detained, and you can have a right to know why. be arrested in some states for refusing to give it. 4. Don’t bad-mouth the police officer or run If you reasonably fear that your name is incrimi- away, even if you believe what is happening is nating, you can claim the right to remain silent, unreasonable.That could lead to your arrest. which may be a defense in case you are arrested anyway. 3. You don’t have to consent to any search of IF YOU’RE STOPPED IN YOUR CAR yourself, your car or your house. If you DO consent to a search, it can affect your rights later 1. Upon request, show them your driver’s license, in court. If the police say they have a search registration, and proof of insurance. In certain warrant, ASK TO SEE IT. cases, your car can be searched without a warrant as long as the police have probable cause.To 4. Do not interfere with, or obstruct the police— protect yourself later, you should make it clear you can be arrested for it. that you do not consent to a search. It is not lawful for police to arrest you simply for refusing to consent to a search.

64 65 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

2. If you’re given a ticket, you should sign it; 5. Do not make any decisions in your case until otherwise you can be arrested.You can always you have talked with a lawyer. fight the case in court later. 3. If you’re suspected of drunk driving (DWI) IN YOUR HOME and refuse to take a blood, urine or breath test, your driver’s license may be suspended. 1. If the police knock and ask to enter your home, you don’t have to admit them unless they IF YOU’RE ARRESTED have a warrant signed by a judge. OR TAKEN TO A POLICE STATION 2. However, in some emergency situations (like when a person is screaming for help inside, or 1. You have the right to remain silent and to talk when the police are chasing someone) officers are to a lawyer before you talk to the police.Tell the allowed to enter and search your home without police nothing except your name and address. a warrant. Don’t give any explanations, excuses or stories. 3. If you are arrested, the police can search you You can make your defense later, in court, based and the area close by. If you are in a building, on what you and your lawyer decide is best. “close by” usually means just the room you are in. 2. Ask to see a lawyer immediately. If you can’t pay for a lawyer, you have a right to a free one, and should ask the police how the lawyer can be We all recognize the need for effective law contacted. Don’t say anything without a lawyer. enforcement, but we should also understand our own rights and responsibilities—especially in our 3. Within a reasonable time after your arrest, or relationships with the police. Everyone, including booking, you have the right to make a local minors, has the right to courteous and respectful phone call: to a lawyer, bail bondsman, a relative police treatment. or any other person.The police may not listen to If your rights are violated, don’t try to deal the call to the lawyer. with the situation at the scene.You can discuss 4. Sometimes you can be released without bail, or the matter with an attorney afterwards, or file a have bail lowered. Have your lawyer ask the judge complaint with the Internal Affairs or Civilian about this possibility.You must be taken before Complaint Board. the judge on the next court day after arrest. Produced by the American Civil Liberties Union

66 67 AFFILIATE DIRECTORY—A NATIONWIDE NETWORK AFFILIATE DIRECTORY—A NATIONWIDE NETWORK

Alabama California (San Diego) ACLU AFFILIATES 207 Montgomery St. P.O. Box 87131 As of September 15, 2006 Ste. 825 San Diego, CA 92138 Montgomery, AL 36104 619-232-2121 In his early years of civil rights organizing, the 334-262-0304 www.aclusandiego.org www.aclualabama.org ACLU’s founder, Roger Baldwin, traveled the Colorado country, helping to establish local ACLU organi- Alaska 400 Corona St. zations from coast to coast. He knew that this was P. O. Box 201844 Denver, CO 80218 Anchorage, AK 99520 303-777-5482 the only way to ensure that, one day, the rights 907-276-2258 www.aclu-co.org and protections of the Constitution would be www.akclu.org made real for everyone. Connecticut Arizona 32 Grand St. In the years since, the ACLU has grown from an P.O. Box 17148 Hartford, CT 06106 Phoenix, AZ 85011 860-247-9823 initial handful of activists to more than 500,000 602-650-1967 www.acluct.org members and supporters. Affiliates operate in www.azclu.org every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Dakotas Arkansas 112 N. University Drive Rico. Our traditional reliance on a corps of 904 W. 2nd St., Ste. 1 Ste. 301 “cooperating attorneys” continues to serve the Little Rock, AR 72201 Manchester Bldg. ACLU well. These courageous and dedicated 501-374-2660 Fargo, ND 58102 www.acluarkansas.org 701-461-7290 volunteers, along with staff, handle nearly 6,000 www.acludakotas.org court cases annually. Recently, we reached a California (Northern) milestone when we ensured that each affiliate has 39 Drumm St. Delaware a full-time attorney on staff, which has greatly San Francisco, CA 94111 100 West 10th St. Ste. 309 415-621-2488 Wilmington, DE 19801 extended our capacity and reach. www.aclunc.org 302-654-3966 www.aclu-de.org Affiliates handle requests for legal assistance, lobby California (Southern) the state legislatures, and host public forums 1616 Beverly Blvd. Florida throughout the year. Functioning hand-in-hand Los Angeles, CA 90026 4500 Biscayne Blvd. 213-977-9500 Suite 340 with the national office, they form a “central www.aclu-sc.org Miami, FL 33137 nervous system” capable of engaging in the most 786-363-2700 important civil rights issues and legal cases in our www.aclufl.org nation today.

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