...Griswold v. Connecticut: The Right to Privacy, Equal Protection, and Legalizing Sodomy In 1965 the landmark case Griswold v. Connecticut the Supreme Court recognized penumbra emanations regarding the right to privacy protected from governmental intrusion. Plaintiffs Estelle Griswold, the Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and C. Lee Buxton, a licensed physician serving as the Medical Director for the League in New Haven, were found guilty and charged as accessories to Connecticut’s General Statutes §§ 53-52 and 54-196 for providing advice and prescribing a contraceptive device for a heterosexual married couple. The statutes at issue stated that: (1) Persons preventing conception using drugs, medicines,...
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...Assignment 1: Rights of Accused Jeffrey R Herbert, Sr. Dr. Jane El-Yacoubi POL110 – U.S. Government Sunday, April 29, 2012 Due Process can be defined in one word: Fairness! An original definition from The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd edition, defines due process as a set course for judicial or other government activities designed to protect the individual’s legal rights. (Dictionary, 1997, 1993) The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside, also known as the due-process law (Wilson, 2009). No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, 2012) What the constitution is establishing is a judicial concept that guarantees that all legal proceedings against any individual will receive the right to fair trial and given an opportunity to be heard against the government before the actions of the government to take away life, liberty, or property. The 6th amendment says, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district...
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...bottleneck in the processing of applicants. “Only the constitutional test of equal protection is not satisfied by considerations of minimal financial expediency alone. To be sure, the State may reduce or even eliminate entirely welfare payments if it chooses to conserve resources in this fashion; it may turn...
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... • Codified and uncodified o Codified – enshrined in law and based on 1 single authoritative document outlining powers of institutions + government, as well as a statement of the rights of citizen’s ▪ Document is authoritative, highest law of the land. Binds all political institutions – leads to 2 tier legal system ▪ Provisions of it are entrenched, difficult to amend or abolish ▪ It is judiciable, all political bodies are subject to authority of the courts, in particular a supreme court. o Uncodified – increasingly rare, UK one of few ▪ Not authoritative, constitutional laws treated same as ordinary laws ▪ Not entrenched, constitution can be changed through the normal process for enacting statute law. ▪ Not judiciable, judges do not have legal standard to declare that actions of other bodies are constitutional/not constitutional. o However: ▪ No constitution is entirely written, written documents do not encompass all aspects of constitutional practice ▪ No constitution is entirely unwritten, no constitution consisting only of rules of conduct or behaviour. • Unitary and federal o Unitary – establish constitutional supremacy of central government over provincial and local bodies. Reflected in UK via Parliament o Federal – divide sovereignty between 2 levels of government, both central and regional...
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...The debate question posed at the outset is the following: does the president have constitutional authority under the due process clause to kill U.S. citizens abroad, or is it a violation of this clause to unilaterally decide to target and kill Americans? This essay will review the concepts of battlefield, imminent threat, and “due process”, and how these ideas shape our perception of presidential power. It used to be that a battlefield was marked off and the combat was on the battlefield. Al-Qaeda had declared that a battlefield was anywhere they can legitimately operate from and kill Americans. A “battlefield” can best be defined as anywhere where the enemy has protection of local people, where the enemy can’t be arrested, and from where they can attack America. Most commonly, we think of a combatant as somebody engaged in fighting a war. An “immanent threat” is best defined as any pronounced or supposed threat that is about to happen. It can also be defined as the presence of immediate deadly harm. In response, if the president has the opportunity to prevent an event that is highly likely, he should have the right to do so. Concepts of liberty and due process may be relevant to some, yet in an armed conflict, there are no due process rights available. Because of battlefield requirements and the lethal force being used, due process does not require trial or charges. Right to due process is context-sensitive, and it should be analyzed according to the situation. Under...
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...was denied due process of law after he confessed to helping in a crime that ended in muder, but was never shown evidence that his partner had confessed to the actual killing until after he was convicted. Procedural History: One case that is mentioned during the Brady trial is the Mooney v. Hola ham case in which the principle is " not punishment of society for misdeeds of a prosecuted but a avoidance of an unfair trial to the accused. Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly." Facts: the petitioner and a partner by the ame Boblit were found guilty of murder. Both men had separated trials, the partitioner was triad first. He stated that be had helped in the crime, but the Boblit had actually committed the murder. Brady requested to see the prosecutor's extrajudicial statement from Boblit. He was shown these statement, but the prosecutor did not show him the statement in which Boblit confessed to the killing. The Due Process Claise of the Fourteenth Amendment was violated according to the Appellee by suppressing evidence. The petitioner requested a new trial in which the question of punishment would be viewed. Issue: the issue is this case is whether or not the prosecutor violated the petitioner's rights by suppressing the statement that proved another person had committed the actual murder. The fourteenth amendment due process clause in...
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...against the United States. An enemy combatant is an “individual who, under the laws and customs of war, may be detained for the duration of an armed conflict”. The case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 has had an important impact on society. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 the case focuses on an individual’s constitutional rights. The main arguments involving the case are: If the government violated Hamdi’s 5th amendment right and 14th amendment right to due process by holding him without allowing him access to an attorney. This was done only on the basis of the executive branch’s power to declare Hamdi as an enemy combatant and to lawfully make decisions during wartime....
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...role. The views of each can vary from how they each feel the court system works and the integrity of it. Many factors can play a role in the way in which these people feel on the actual court system process. Such factors being where they work within the system, if they are judges, cops, lawyers or social service officers can change the way they feel the system works. Factors of where they work geographically and the views and opinions of those areas can also shape the way the person feels about the system. The American criminal justice system is a complex creature, by which laws are established to protect life and property and maintain order. The purpose of these laws is to protect individuals from a threat to their person or property; and, to punish those convicted of crimes which harm or kill individuals and/or cause the loss of their property. These laws also protect society as a whole, in the form of rules and regulations set forth by government agencies. In effect, these laws are designed to control and prevent criminal activity. These laws have two functions; to provide for the protection from harm to individuals, their property, and society as a whole, and to educate the population about social values and boundaries. These laws are written in a number of ways. Constitutional Law is written by both state and federal governments into their respective Constitutions. A state constitution cannot override the U.S. constitution, as the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of...
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...Court for Norfolk Circuit Court and JANET M. RAINEY, in her official capacity as State Registrar of Vital Records, Petitioners, MICHÈLE MCQUIGG, Intervenor/Petitioner, v. TIMOTHY B. BOSTIC; TONY C. LONDON; CAROL SCHALL; and MARY TOWNLEY, Respondents. ________________________________ ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT ________________________________ BRIEF FOR THE RESPONDENTS ________________________________ Law Student Counsel for the Respondents QUESTION PRESENTED Whether Virginia’s Marriage Laws, which prohibit same-sex couples from marrying or entering a civil partnership in Virginia or in any other jurisdiction, violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment when: * Virginia’s constitution limits marriage to one man and one woman; * Virginia’s code prohibits same-sex marriages or civil unions; and * Virginia’s code refuses to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions lawfully consummated in other jurisdictions. TABLE OF CONTENTS page QUESTION PRESENTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
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...three civil rights of liberty, property, and privacy. Under the Fourth Amendment the exclusionary rule was designed to sustain that any evidence that was obtained illegally by government officials is a violation of a defendant's constitutional rights and cannot be used against the defendant in a court of law. The reader will be informed of the rationale and purpose of the exclusionary rule and identify exceptions to the rule. It will also analyze the costs and benefits as well as alternative remedies to the exclusionary rule. Exclusionary Rule Evaluation In the 18th century the exclusionary rule under common law did not allow coerced confessions of defendants to be admitted in trial courts. It did not protect defendants from evidence that government officials seized during illegal searches from trials. Weeks v. United States (1914) held that the exclusionary rule was a part of the Fourth Amendment, and any illegally seized evidence cannot be used against the defendant. The decision made the exclusionary rule a constitutional requirement, but it did not bind states. Incorporating the rule to the state level was initiated in 1961 by way of the opinion of Mapp v. Ohio. The Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule became binding to the states under the Due Process Clause, which protects civilians from the denial of life, liberty, or property (Zalman, 2011). The primary goal of the Exclusionary Rule was to combat police misconduct that violates constitutional rights, which possibly...
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...The process of criminal procedure involves regulations, which aid the order of procedures the government authorities use to apply criminal laws. The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth amendment, and the Supremes Court understanding of the constitution are important for the study of criminal procedures (Zalman, 2008). The Federal Rules in criminal procedures ensure citizens’ rights to due process, right to a fair trial, right to equal protection, and right to lie, liberty, and property. Due process and crime control models play a major role in shaping criminal procedures. Both models hold some form of constitutional values required in the society we live in (Zalman, 2008). In this paper I will briefly discuss the similarities and the differences and how they have an effect on criminal procedure policies. Crime control model is known as the “presumption of guilt” model. This model assumes defendants are guilty, police and prosecutors are precise in their choices to arrest, apprehend, and prosecute suspects. As a result, the remaining steps in the criminal procedures become automatic and the investigative stages can be opposed (Zalman, 2008). Defendants are moved swiftly through the criminal justice system because he or he is presumed guilty until proven innocent in the court of law. Due process is based on the adversary law system, which believes an individual is innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. The adversary system prohibits law enforcement...
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...Citation: Estate of Sinthasomphone v. City of Milwaukee, 838 F.Supp. 1320 (1993) Facts: Konerak Sinthasomphone, a 14 year old Laotian male, voluntarily went to Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment where he allowed Dahmer to take nude photographs of him. Dahmer drugged Konerak and poured diluted hydrochloric acid into a small hole he drilled into Konerak’s head while he was unconscious. Dahmer left the apartment and Konerak was able to find his way outside. Two female’s witnessed Konerak run into the street naked and bloody, then fall to the ground. Police were called. Responding officers arrived after Dahmer had returned and located Konerak. Dahmer claimed Konerak was a houseguest who drank too much. Konerak failed to respond to officer’s questions and...
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...Historical Policy Comparison Jermaine Hunt, Jason McFadden, Kendra Williams, Michael Dasher CJA/464 December 10, 2013 Ken Jones Historical Policy Comparison Criminal justice policy over the past 50 has evolved. The key issues of criminal justice policies were gangs, drugs, juvenile, root causes of crime, and gun control. Currently, the key issues are terrorism, illegal immigration, and global organized crime. Traditionally, criminal justice policies were issued by state and local governments. However, the federal government plays an important role in implementation of criminal justice policy. The federal government provides grants to local and state governments to support these criminal justice policies. Criminal justice agencies at the local and state level have to enforce these policies made by federal and state officials. Nevertheless, the local and state governments still bear much of the responsibility. States operate law enforcement agencies, correctional systems, criminal courts system, whereas cities operate the local police departments. Within the past 50 years, criminal justice policies have affected the criminal justice system. The “war on drug” policy has poured billions of dollars into the criminal justice system, although drug-related violence and drugs remain a problem. The criminal justice policies have gone from drugs polices to sentencing policies and currently to globalization policies. Currently, the criminal justice policies go beyond the United States...
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...that Mapp let them in, due to the police not having a search warrant Mapp told the police no. several hours later the police refrained from watching Mapp’s home and forced their way into Mapp’s home waiving a warrant as they entered. During the police searches they came across a trunk containing explicit materials. Mapp was then arrested and charged with possession of explicit materials. The Fourth Amendment "put the courts of the United States and federal officials under limitations and forever secures the people of their persons, houses, papers and effects against all unreasonable searches and seizures. By including only United States and federal officials in its ruling, the Court still left open the question of whether evidence unlawfully seized could be used in a state criminal court proceeding. (Lisa Pahm) The case Wolf v. Colorado in 1949, due to the effect the Fourth Amendment was discussed for the first time on the states. If the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment united is determined,...
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...Paper University of Phoenix CJA/364 Criminal Procedure MU11BCJ05 Jury Trial Analysis The modern jury has evolved since about 1700 into a complex process involving a number of distinct steps (Zalman, 2008). Since the evolution of jury trials, the main goal is to form a jury panel, provide them with all the facts of the case, and decide a verdict. Each step that makes up the jury trial is unique within itself. It is unique because there is a starting point, finishing point, and steps in between. Every step is crucial and there is no room for error. The writer is going to discuss all of these steps in detail, and will also provide in depth analysis of constitutional trial rights enacted during a trial. One of the most important steps in a jury trial is jury selection. “First, the court or a jury commission creates a master jury list of all eligible jurors, using methods that produce a statistically accurate cross-section of the community” (Zalman, 2008. p. 544). Upon omission on the master jury list, each individual in the jury pool goes through a set of questions that will decide who qualifies, also known as voir dire. “The process of voir dire allows the judge, attorneys, or both to question jurors to determine whether they are biased” (Zalman, 2008. p. 544). Once the jury is selected, the court process begins with an opening statement that outlines the main points of the case. The lawyers often try to make good first impressions on jurors by pointing out general...
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