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Learn about the importance of due process of law in protecting the rights and liberties of individuals. Explore the different sections of the Constitution that guarantee due process and understand how it applies to various aspects of civil liberties.
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The 5th Amendment says that the government cannot deprive a person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Due process means the government must act fairly and in accord with established rules—it must use fair procedures.
Fair procedures, however, mean little if used to administer unfair law.
Procedural due process refers to the fair methods government must use; substantive due process refers to the fair policies under which government must operate.
The States have the power to protect and promote the public health, safety, morals, and general well-being of all the people.
This power is called the police power, and the States may not use it in violation of due process.
When its use conflicts with civil rights protections, the courts must balance the needs of society against individual rights.
In a key case of this type, the Supreme Court supported a police officer who ordered a blood test for a suspected drunk driver even though the officer had no search warrant, or court order authorizing a search.
The constitutional guarantees of due process create “the right to be free…from unwanted governmental intrusions into one’s privacy.”
The most controversial applications of this right have come in abortion cases.
The 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1865 to end slavery and involuntary servitude, or forced labor.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the 13th Amendment authorizes Congress to attack racial discrimination, that is, bias or unfairness.
The 2nd Amendment protects the right of each State to keep a militia.
It does not guarantee the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
The Supreme Court has never found that right to be within the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
Each State can therefore create its own limits on the right to keep and bear arms—and all of the States do, in various ways.
The 3rd and 4th Amendments guarantee that government cannot disturb people or their homes without good reason.
The 3rd Amendment forbids the unlawful quartering of soldiers in private homes—a British practice in colonial days.
It requires that, to search for or seize evidence or persons, police officers have a proper warrant obtained with probable cause—a reasonable suspicion of a crime.
It was designed to protect against the colonial use of writs of assistance—blanket search warrants that allowed British officers to search private homes.
The exclusionary rule says that evidence gained by illegal police action, such as searching without a warrant, cannot be used against the person from whom it was seized.
The Constitution offers several guarantees for persons accused of crimes.
For one, it grants the right to seek a writ of habeas corpus—a court order commanding an officer imprisoning someone to explain why the prisoner should not be released.
It also prohibits the passage of a bill of attainder, which punishes a person without a trial.
Also, Congress and the States may not pass an ex post facto law, which makes an act a crime and then punishes someone for committing the act before the law’s passage.
A grand jury decides if someone can be accused of a serious crime.
The prosecutor presents the grand jury with an indictment, or a formal complaint against the accused.
The grand jury decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial; if not, the charges are dropped.
In most States today a prosecutor brings charges in an information—a document in which he or she swears there is enough evidence for a trial.
An accused person may not be exposed to double jeopardy, that is, be tried for the same crime more than once.
The person has the right to a speedy and public trial by jury with the assistance of counsel (a lawyer).
If a defendant waives this right, a bench trial is held, meaning a judge alone hears the case.
The 5th Amendment protects a person from self-incrimination, or being a witness against himself or herself.
The Miranda Rule requires police to read a list of rights to a person they arrest and make sure the person understands these rights.
The 8th Amendment offers protections for Americans being punished for crimes.
It forbids the setting of excessive or unreasonably high bail.
Bail is a sum of money that an accused person must pay the court as a guarantee that he or she will appear in court at the proper time.
Once paid, the person goes free until the time of the trial.
If the defendant does not come to court, he or she does not get the money back.
