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Hello students from around, around the world.
Welcome to the global students introduction to US Law.
My name is Professor Sharon Rush.
And I will be teaching you the
part about individual liberties under the US Constitution.
I want you to know, right from the beginning.
That US Constitutional Law is very complex, and there's a whole lot to it.
Would you believe that my textbook is over almost 2,000 pages.
And I think it weighs over ten pounds.
I can't teach you everything about
U.S. Constitutional Law and individual liberties.
But I have tried to pick some areas that I think are very interesting.
But they also will be controversial sometimes.
But that's okay.
That's the nature of law.
Law makes us think.
It makes us reflect.
As we go through these materials, I invite you
to talk to each other from around the world.
Think about whether you agree or disagree with US law.
And think about whether your own
countries' laws, do a better, quote unquote,
job at protecting individual liberties, than we do here in the United States.
Before we get started, I'd like to begin thinking about three different situations.
And again these might be controversial for you.
But suppose we have a man who wants to burn
the United States flag, as a symbol of political protest.
And so he goes downtown and sets the flag a blaze.
But in lives in a state where burning the flag is a crime.
And so he get's arrested.
He wants to say that the statute that allows him
to be arrested for that being a crime, is unconstitutional.
He wants to say that it violates his individual liberty to free speech.
We're going to look at that.
Suppose we have an elderly woman who's very, very ill.
She is in a lot of pain.
And she would like to smoke medical marijuana to alleviate some of that pain.
But she lives in a state that says, if you do that, that is a crime.
And you will be arrested.
She doesn't want to be arrested.
But she wants to argue that the law that
doesn't allow her to smoke medical marijuana, is unconstitutional.
We'll look at that.
We have a young woman who loves her father very much.
Her father is a prominent military leader and went to the state military academy.
She wants to be like her dad and go to the military academy, as well.
But the military academy only admits men.
It won't even consider her application.
She wants to argue that the
military academy is violating her individual liberties.
We're going to look at that as well.
Again, these cases are not going to be easy.
The United States Supreme Court has nine justices.
Sometimes they disagree.
They may come to a vote on a bottom line, so to speak.
But they might disagree on the rationales.
Sometimes they dissent.
They don't even agree on the holding in the case As we go
through these materials, I can't get into all of the concurrences and dissents.
But I will give you a good feel for how US law developed in our country.
Give you a good feel for some of the issues
that are, are really pressing in our country at this moment.
So we are going to be looking
at individual liberties from two different perspectives.
We're going to be looking at fundamental rights.
What rights do people enjoy in the United States?
Fundamental rights generally are a part of due process.
And we're also going to be looking at equal protection
or how the government is required to treat people equally.
What does that mean?
Again, our goals for this course are very modest.
We want to learn some basic knowledge
about individual liberties in the United States.
And you'll also will come away from this course, understanding how you
would analyze whether a particular law in the United States is constitutional.
Or whether a particular law violates individual liberties.
Before we get started, I'd like to introduce two basic principles
that I, I truly believe will help you throughout the course.
I want to you a little bit about the concept of State Action.
And then talk to you a little bit about Demo, Democracy's Dual Nature.
Let's focus on State Action for a little bit.
The United States Constitution only
protects individual liberties from government interference.
Only the government, in other words, can violate your free speech rights.
Or your rights to freedom of religion.
The corollary to this, is that
private people cannot violate constitutional rights.
Now there are some exceptions to that.
But we won't get into those.
Again, it's part of the complexities of US law.
But we wont worry about the exceptions.
We're going to focus on the general rule.
And the general rule is that only the government can violate individual rights.
So let's think about an example.
Suppose a man is walking down the street and he's stopped
by a robber who demands that the man empty his pockets.
He's obviously getting robbed.
Or, the man is walking down the street and he's
stopped by a police officer in uniform who's very polite.
And says sir, would you please empty your pockets for me.
Well, I want to ask you.
Who has possibly violated the man's constitutional rights?
The robber or the police officer?
Well if you answered the police officer, you're absolutely right.
And you're beginning to understand the State Action doctrine.
Because that's what the State Action Doctrine stands for.
Only a government employee or a law, can violate a person's constitutional rights.
The robber cannot violate the man's constitutional rights.
But the robber can be held accountable for his unlawful actions,
because most states will make what the robber did a crime.
But a statutory crime is different from a constitutional right.
So, I don't want you to think the robber gets away with it.
No.
But only the police officer can violate the man's constitutional rights.
And that's the possibility here.
We're not saying that the police officer did.
The government can violate a person's individual liberties in a one of two ways.
The government can enact an unconstitutional law.
Which is what we will focus on.
And then of course, a government worker can
act in a way that vio, violates your rights.
And analyzing whether a government worker
violates an individual's rights is very complicated.
And way beyond the scope of this course.
So we're just going to focus on unconstitutional and constitutional laws.
Let
me just focus a little bit then on democracy's dual nature.
Because I think this also will be very helpful as we go through the course.
Almost everybody understands that in a democracy, the majority wins.
But in the United States it's also very important
to understand, especially when it comes to individual liberties.
That sometimes the individual has to win.
Example.
Our Fifth Amendment protects the right not to
be a witness against yourself in a criminal trial.
Let's suppose that the people of a state get together and
say, let's make criminal defendants testify
against themselves in a criminal trial.
Let's say this statute is very very popular.
Most of the people want it.
But the criminal defendant standing against the
political majority, will win in this case.
Because the criminal defendant has an
individual liberty interest under the 5th Amendment,
not to incriminate himself or herself in a criminal, in a criminal trial.
So this law would be unconstitutional.
Even though it can be very popular.
So let me summarize so far.
And again welcome you.
Individual Liberties will include Fundamental Rights under Due Process.
And the right to be treated equally under Equal Protection.
The goals of the course are very modest.
We want to learn some basic knowledge.
We want, want to learn basic analysis.
And of course we want to be intellectually challenged.
We want to accept that challenge.
And compare what we're doing in our countries around the
world, with respect with what the United States is doing.
Two principles.
State Action.
As a general rule, only the state can violate a person's individual liberties.
And of course, democracy has a dual nature.
On the one hand, sometimes the majority wins.
And we'll look at when that's likely to happen.
But on the other hand, sometimes the individual has
to win, because that's the nature of an individual liberty.
It wouldn't be very much of an individual
liberty if the majority could just vote it away.
Next time, we'll introduce four major questions and begin to answer them.
We will ask, what are fundamental rights, which I abbreviate, FR.
Why does it matter?
Who cares?
How does the government regulate a fundamental right?
And what about other rights?
Which I abbreviate, OR.
Thank you.
Welcome aboard.
And I look forward to seeing you next session.
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