14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution provides equal protection for all citizens in all manners of the law, at least in theory. In practice, equal protection is not executed perfectly, but it does remain an ideal to which each section of the criminal justice system can and usually does aspire. In the criminal justice system, all defendants are entitled to an attorney, which is why a public defender is appointed to those who cannot afford an attorney of their choice. Theoretically, a public defender could offer the same caliber of legal representation as a big shot lawyer, but rarely is this actually the case. If a defendant does believe that he or she was misrepresented, then there are avenues for protest but it may be extremely difficult for an indigent individual to receive the exact parallel of legal representation as a wealthy person would. A defendant who loses a….

Confessions and Interrogations
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees, under its "due process" clause, protection from the use of involuntary confessions. A confession is considered to be involuntary if the confession was not obtained from a rational intellect and a free will. ("Confessions") In other words, a person must consciously know what they are confessing to as well as freely admit to it. This definition includes a prohibition on confessions that are physically coerced (such as torture), but also against psychological ploys that are deemed to be coercive. In fact, coercion by the police is the necessary factor in determining whether or not a confession is involuntary. This means that the circumstances of the confession are the main issue, and if they are found to be coercive, then the confession is not admissible. ("Confessions")

In a world where torture has become a common means of gaining information, especially in….

Fourth Amendment to the Constitution covers the protection of the individual from unlawful searches and seizures when in the privacy of their own home. Because of the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement officers are required to secure an official court order or warrant to search the premises, and that warrant must be based on probable cause.
Although the Fourth Amendment does protect against the intrusion onto private property, there are several exceptions to the Fourth Amendment in which law enforcement is given leeway and greater degrees of power over the individual. Courts have also ruled increasingly in favor of the rights of law enforcement officers to infringe upon Fourth Amendment rights in specific situations, as with "stop and frisk" scenarios in which probable cause can be loosely defined and based on subjective police impressions of suspicious behavior ("Valid Searches and Seizures Without Warrants," n.d.). Another exception to Fourth Amendment rights relates to….

Constitution were the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments ratified in 1865-70, which abolished slavery and granted equal citizenship and voting rights to blacks for the first time in U.S. history. All of these passed Congress as compromise measures between the Radical and moderate Republican factions in Congress, and were resisted intensely by Democrats in the North and South as violations of the rights of states and a tyrannical exercise of power by the central government. Then as now, of course, these were often code words for the fact that many whites simply did not favor black equality and voting rights. In the South, the Ku Klux Klan used violence and terror to prevent these amendments from being fully implemented, and after 1876-77, they succeeded in making them dead letters -- rights that existed only on paper but never enforced in reality. So it remained until the civil rights revolution….

The 14th also lays down the rules as to how the U.S. Congress is made up, it points out that no one can be elected to national office if they have been found guilty of treason. The 14th also deals with the legal rights of slaves after the Civil ar; those "being 21 years of age, and citizens of the United States," and male, whall not have their right to vote "abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime…"
And, importantly, the 14th Amendment (third article) states that "No state shall infringe the right of trial by jury in criminal cases, nor the rights of conscience, nor the freedom of speech, or of the press." That is according to the Congress of the United States, August 24, 1789 (from the John Hopkins University Press).

orks Cited

Abortion Law Homepage. (2006). Overview. Retrieved 25 Feb. 2008 from http://members.aol.com/abtrbng/

FindLaw. (2007). Fourteenth Amendment: Section….

g., juries that reflect the ethnic makeup of communities, another form of affirmative action). In the Crown Heights riots (1991) in Brooklyn, New York, Lemrick Nelson was on trial for violation of federal civil rights laws (he allegedly killed a Jewish student). The district court judge, Judge Trager, using "nontraditional" methods, attempted to create diversity on the jury by using ethnic criteria (blacks and Jews) in an attempt to reflect the actual ethnic makeup of Brooklyn (ilkenfeld, 2002). The Second Circuit Court, however, "struck down" judge Trager's construction of an ethnically reflective jury; the Second Circuit held that Trager's court "violated the Equal Protection Clause." The circuit explained that "...potential jurors' Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from racially discriminatory state action preclude treating individual jurors differently based on a desire to maintain a certain aggregate jury composition" (ilkenfeld, 2002), according to an account in the Columbia Law Review.
An article….

Fourth Amendment
It is a traditional belief in America that a man's home is his castle, meaning that he is lord and master of his home and no one may enter, not even the government, without his permission. This was such an important issue among the American colonists that it was included into the Constitution when they broke away from Great Britain. In short, the fourth amendment states that no private property could be searched or seized without a proper warrant; and a warrant could not be issued without due cause. Over time belief in this absolute principle has gradually softened and a number of exceptions to this rule have come into place. Police and other authorities have been given exceptions to this rule in certain circumstances and it is not uncommon for evidence, that was gathered without a warrant, to be accepted in a trial. This is the situation in….

Equal Protection Clause of 14th Amendment
The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment extended to protections of the Bill of ights to all Americans, including pregnant women. Therefore, it is fundamentally unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to criminalize pregnant women who take illegal drugs for fetal abuse or neglect without applying the same conditions on pregnant women who endanger their unborn child by drinking alcohol, smoking, or otherwise failing to provide the best possible nurturing environment for the fetus. This paper reviews the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature together with the precedential case law concerning these issues to support this view, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

eview and Analysis

A growing body of research concerning fetal development together with innovations in modern healthcare technologies have provided researchers with new insights about what can harm or nurture babies in the….

Outside of court, this takes place by way of affidavits and depositions (Sanders, 2007).
The Amendment's final part assures the accused person the right to aid of counsel. Legal representation was once a benefit only accessible to the rich. The poor were frequently left to their own devices in English courts. While defendants in America can decide to represent themselves, the right to counsel gives one the right to gratis legal help. In criminal trials, poor defendants are given legal counsel. Nationwide, community legal services, legal aid societies and other factions help the poor deal with civil issues. No matter how well the founding fathers' accomplished on their plan, our judicial system is not ideal. It is well-known that injustices and frustrations are daily legal incidences. Even so, the framers made enormous progress for daily citizens through the 6th Amendment to make sure American courts truly are the people's courts….

Jehovah's Witnesses are a good example of a religious entity that claims the right the First Amendment freedom of religion clauses. Jehovah's Witnesses may act as a thorn in many families across America, however, they have been the root cause of much of our freedom of religion laws. Jehovah's Witnesses brought many cases of religion to the court system in the 1930s and 1940s. Before then, the court system handled very few court cases regarding freedom of speech and freedom of religion. These cases formed the foundation of the First Amendment protection of all citizens.

The Court has attempted to create and implement a system for determining church and state decisions. This is accomplished with a three-part test for laws dealing with religious establishment. The determination if the law is constitutional is this: does it have a secular purpose? It should not advance or inhibit religion. Finally, it cannot foster an….

First Amendment, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court
Freedom of and from religion and freedom of speech are the distinct provisions of the First Amendment; it gives citizens of the United States the unalienable human right to assembly and speech. However, the language is intentionally vague. The framers of the Constitution, anticipating unknown applications of the amendment, gave power to the Supreme Court to act as ultimate arbiter in matters involving its provisions. The Constitution of the United States is a living document and the interpretation of its amendments by the Supreme Court changes over time. Freedom of speech and the press, and religious freedom, are exercised according to the Supreme Court's rulings in cases that come before it. Exploration of these cases illuminates the evolving meaning of the First Amendment and the freedoms granted therein.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is partially designed to protect journalists and news-content publishers….

U.S. Constitution: Discussion Questions
A) he Fourteenth Amendment: the Case of Whitney V. California

274 U.S. 357

Whitney V. California (No. 3)

Argued: October 6, 1925

Decided: May 16, 1927

453 Affirmed

Location: Socialist Convention at Loring Hall

Factual Analysis: Anita Charlotte Whitney, who subscribed to the CLPC (Communist Labor Party of California), found herself was arraigned for breaching the state's 'Criminal Syndicalism Act', which forbade any actions aiding or advocating crime commission, including "terrorism as a means of accomplishing a change in industrial ownership or control, or effecting any political change" (LII, n.d.).

was the 'Criminal Syndicalism Act' repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment? By penalizing those who advocate unlawful and violent methods of altering political and industrial situations and not penalizing individuals who advocate the same methods with the aim of maintaining such conditions, the statute, in the view of the defendant, contravened the 'Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment' (LII, n.d.).

Majority Opinion: No. he Criminal Syndicalism….

Or, as Saletan points out, those three elements "by deduction, are the due process test" (2011).
But this ought to leave a bad taste in one's mouth because all three of these elements can be manipulated to violate one's due process right.

"hich leaves us with an awkward bottom line. If the target is a suspected terrorist, "imminence" can be redefined to justify killing him. If the weapon is a drone, feasibility of arrest has already been ruled out -- that's why the drone has been sent to do the job. So in any drone strike on a U.S. citizen suspected of terrorism, only one of the three questions we supposedly apply to such cases is really open: Has he been fighting alongside al-Qaida? If he has, we can kill him. That's the same rule we apply to foreigners. In effect, citizenship doesn't matter. The "due process" test is empty" (Saletan….

obbery Scenario
In this particular scenario, the police stopped a driver based upon the fact that the driver matched the description of the cashier who was the victim of the robbery and the driver had an Alabama student parking sticker (the store's robber was wearing a cap and a t-shirt from this university). The suspect was not speeding when the license was obtained, it should be noted. But the actions of the officer were consistent with stop-and-identify laws which permit police to ask suspects for licenses or other identification.

Supreme Court has generally not looked favorably upon stop-and-identify laws when they have been under its review. In the case of Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983), one of the most recent stop-and-identify cases, the statute was deemed "unconstitutionally vague on its face within the meaning of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to clarify what is contemplated….

Amendments to the Constitution
In any criminal cases, the individual will be arraigned before the judge. This is when they will be informed about the charges and given the chance to enter a plea. Once this takes place, is the point a preliminary hearing is scheduled. It focuses on the evidence and if there is enough to warrant a trail. If the judge is convinced there is enough evidence, they will schedule a date and time for a jury trial. This is when there will be series of hearings challenging the discovery process, the evidence and any that could have been collected in violation of the Constitution. In these situations, the judge will rule on the evidence and determine which items can be included at trial. During the process, both sides will call witnesses and try to prove their case. (Hess, 2014) (Parpworth, 2012)

At the heart of these issues are due….