Okay, so next lecture is the Constitution. So your learning objectives, basically we're just going to talk about the structure of the Constitution, talk about congressional power as it relates to commerce, explain the relationship between the Constitution, states, and commerce, I guess. And then I'm going to take a little bit of instructor... Liberty and I am going to include a lecture on the Bill of Rights that I developed a couple of years ago.
But I like it and I think it covers the content pretty well. So that is going to you might see a little hiccup in the slides, but that's why it is. So the Constitution is really the basis of our legal system in government. And when you think about it, it was drafted in 1787 and it still holds true today.
We are working on our first constitution and yes, granted, we've had amendments. However, when you look at other countries who have modeled their constitutions after ours, France, for example, in the same span of time, they have drafted and redrafted their constitution many times. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, that's up to you.
But my point is, is that the fundamental document itself has endured for all of these many really centuries at this point. One of the things that is so great about the Constitution is it's relatively short. It's not 40 pages long.
I think if you take a look at it, it's like maybe five, ten, and you can easily read it in a sitting. I know it's kind of dry, but it is kind of important that you really know what's in the Constitution. um so if you ever get a chance you should read it i won't assign that to you um but i am probably gonna talk i'm you know you should know about what your protections are um it lays out the separation of powers that is a hallmark to the u.s form of government of the legislative judicial and executive branches and it is divided into seven articles that basically does that um Article one is legislative branch, two executive branch, three judicial branch.
Article four defines relationships or describes relationships between the states. Article five provides the process for amending the Constitution. I mean, look at that.
The framers were so smart that back in 1787, they included a clause about what do we do if we need to make changes to this thing or add to this thing. Kind of cool. Article 6 is the Supremacy Clause and Article 7 is the process for ratification or how the Constitution would be ratified and made the law.
So let's talk about the Commerce Clause because that's probably the single most important element of the Constitution that might relate to business and business relationships. Part of Article 1, Section 8. which gives Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states. And so Congress is really the power that regulates interstate commerce.
The states have the right to regulate commerce within their borders, but once something goes from one state to another, then that gives Congress the right to regulate that trade. And it's designed to bring coordination and fairness among interstate commerce. And it stops the states from imposing taxes and regulations that wreck the nation's domestic trade.
We want states to be able to do business and people to be able to do business within the state's borders and with folks from other states. And we want states to be able to do business with. one another and so congress regulates all of that interstate commerce congress also has the right to regulate any activity that has a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce and that's under the substantial effect rule and so right now um just thinking about all of the you know as ai is developing at light speed That is something that can and will have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, which is why you see Congress holding hearings about what's going on with AI.
because they're using their right to do their because they're using their power over an activity that has a substantial effect on the U.S. economy. Another element of the commerce clause is what's called the dormant aspect of the commerce clause and basically what the dormant aspect does is it holds that a state statute that discriminates against interstate commerce almost always unconstitutional and so here's how that looks so let's say that this okay so California big cheese producer Wisconsin big cheese producer and let's say that in California the legislature in the governor's office says you know we really really want California cheese to be the best cheese there. We think it's the best cheese in the United States, but we want it to be the best cheese in the United States.
So we are going to give our dairy farmers a special tax break, and they're going to get an additional 10% tax rebate on all of their cheese-based revenues. Well, If Wisconsin isn't doing the same thing for their cheese farmers, it gives the California dairy industry an unfair advantage. And that could definitely impact the ability for the Wisconsin cheese farmers to produce cheese and be successful.
And when you look at the various industries where multiple states, you know, think about wine, California, New York, Oregon, Washington. all big wine producers, oranges, Florida, California, avocados, Florida, California. And so there's lots of industries, automotive, the automotive industry. So there's lots of industries where states could play, for lack of a better word, unfair and give their domestic industry an advantage. And so the dormant aspect of the Commerce Clause says, Nope, that's unconstitutional and it violates federal law.
The Supremacy Clause is also probably one of the most important elements of the Constitution, and the Supremacy Clause basically says that the Constitution reigns supreme. The Constitution, federal law, federal statutes, and treaties are the supreme law of the land. If there is a conflict between a federal and a state statute, federal law supersedes. state law so when you think about something that might be legal from a state perspective and illegal from a federal perspective technically it's illegal because the federal law preempts state law i'm thinking about recreational marijuana use recreational marijuana use is legal in many many states it is still illegal federally and so what that means is if we have a president someday that is unhappy or thinks that marijuana is harming society, that president can technically direct their Department of Justice to come into all of those states and start arresting folks.
This is never going to happen. And start arresting folks or arresting dispensaries or shutting down dispensaries, I guess is what would actually happen. Shutting down dispensaries who are selling recreational marijuana.
um again never going to happen but it's just an example of how you can have something that is legal on the state side illegal on the federal side and technically that federal law supersedes state law why hasn't a president done that yet because we haven't had a president who has seen that there is any harm in um the use of marijuana barack obama was the first president who really said i'm not it's yes it's illegal federally but i don't really care about that And really, every president after him is kind of like followed the same line of thinking. So that is the Supremacy Clause. So when there is no conflict between federal and state statutes, and Congress decides to exert control over an issue, then that control is exerted at the federal level.
federal level so again ai um if congress decides that we want to start regulating ai then it becomes a federal thing not a state thing okay so that is uh the supremacy um Next, we are going to talk a little bit about the Bill of Rights. Like I said, here is where I'm going to preempt this lecture with my lecture on the Bill of Rights. And so I will see you on the other side.
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the Bill of Rights. Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. They provide you with protections from the government. We're always talking about protections from the government with respect to the Bill of Rights, not individuals or entities.
You have legal protections against individuals and entities, but those are civil, not constitutional. We'll talk about those next week. The Bill of Rights is designed to protect your individual liberties.
It's designed to protect to provide protections for the accused, and to guarantee you some individual freedoms. So let's go ahead and dive in. Your individual liberties are Amendments 1 through 4. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and redress of grievances.
And one thing I think you might notice with the Bill of Rights is you can really see what the founders... of our nation were fleeing from in the freedoms that they granted us. That they, you know, the freedom of religion is probably first and foremost because they were fleeing, they were looking for a place where they could practice religious freedom.
The Second Amendment and redress of grievances basically means that you have a right if the government has done you wrong, to have that wrong corrected. Freedom of assembly is your right to assemble, although the government can dictate time, place, and manner. I'll talk about that in a minute.
Freedom of press, freedom of speech, religion. I'm going to give you a couple more slides on the First Amendment, so I'm going to skip this for now and we'll move on to 2, 3, and 4. Second Amendment is the right to bear arms. assemble militias. One of the complaints about this amendment is that it was intentionally vague and so the definition of arms in 1776 is a little bit different than in the the 2020s and so this I think is one that we're always gonna see a lot of conflict about, debate perhaps.
Third amendment, no quartering of soldiers. It means that militia groups and members of the military can't just hold up in your house during times of war. Fourth Amendment, no unreasonable search and seizure is the ban on unreasonable search and seizure. The government just can't come into your house at any time and go through your stuff.
I'm going to talk a little bit more about that when we get to criminal law, so we're just going to put a pause on the Fourth Amendment. Reviewing a little bit more about the First Amendment and your freedom of speech. Your freedom of speech is protected with some caveats.
The first caveat is political speech is actually a little bit more protected. A politician can say pretty much anything he wants about another politician. He can even lie.
As long as His speech is not intended to create eminent lawless action. So if political speech is designed to create violence or incite violence, then the government can come in and silence it or ban it. The government has the right to regulate time, place, and manner.
So basically what that means is that if I have a student who in my classroom all the sudden jumps up and starts screaming, F. Maricosta, F. Maricosta, I can say, hey, student, take that outside, and I can regulate time, place, and manner. I can do that, by the way, because Maricosta is a public institution, and we are therefore representatives of the government.
Morality, so obscenity. has never received constitutional protection. Obscenity are words that are defined words, idea, images, symbols that are lewd, filthy, or disgusting. So for example, your conventional swear words, the F word, the S word, those are not considered obscene. Those are protected words.
Picting, sexual violence, or using very graphic terms related to the female anatomy or male anatomy, those might actually be considered obscene depending on the instance. So generally you're okay with the swear words, with the images that generally tends to be another thing. Another element of speech is commercial speech.
Commercial speech is speech that's designed to sell something and the government has the right to limit what you can what you say about a product or service that you're selling I always think about this guy Kevin Trudeau wrote this book called natural cures they don't want you to know about it sold it in Costco for like 15 bucks a book I made millions and this book was like it would talk about how like broccoli cures cancer a lot of outlandish things in this book that ultimately the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, arm of the government, came in and said, you know what, Kevin, you can't sell that book. You can't say that stuff. And ultimately, they had to take the book out of print, and he wound up going to jail for something else, something completely different.
He was a scammer. But, yeah. Just an example of how you can't really say anything you want to sell a product. Moving on to Amendments 5 through 8. Those generally offer protections for the accused. The Fifth Amendment prohibits double jeopardy, meaning that you cannot be tried twice if you are found not guilty for the same crime.
Provides you a right to have your crime. crimes investigated by a grand jury. So basically the government can't just make up charges.
They have to go through a process to charge you. Provides for due process rights. I'm going to talk about that one a little bit in the next slide.
Protects you against self-incrimination and also includes the takings clause. The takings clause basically says that the government can't take away your property without providing you. Fair compensation.
I'm going to talk a little bit about that one in a minute as well. The Sixth Amendment guarantees your right to a speedy trial, guarantees your right to a public trial, and a jury of your peers, and it also guarantees your right to representation by an attorney. Very important amendment with respect to criminal law.
Again, I'll be talking about that a little bit more next week. The Seventh Amendment. provides for a trial by jury in a civil case.
So the Seventh Amendment basically says those protections that you get in the Sixth Amendment also relate to you in a civil case. So the criminal protections also are civil as well. The Eighth Amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment and also bans excessive bail.
So going into the Fifth Amendment in a little bit more detail, due process and the takings clause, those two elements of the Fifth Amendment, are really important with respect to civil law. Procedural due process basically says that the government has to go through procedures to ensure that the result is fair. What that means is is that you have a right to a hearing when the government wants to take action against you. So let's say that I think that you're cheating in my class and so I call you out for cheating and I say, hey student I know that you're cheating.
and you are going to be expelled from Maricosta College. We can't just do that. You have the right as a student at a public institution to due process. It's your due process rights. You have a right to be heard and you have a right to a hearing.
The same goes for a criminal. You always have a right to a hearing. How much due process do you get? The answer is that it really depends on the level of the action that is going to be taken against you.
But at a minimum, you always have a right to a hearing. The takings clause basically says that when the government takes private property for public use, it has to pay a fair price. We generally refer to that as eminent domain.
So the government has the power of eminent domain. It can come in and say, hey your house is in a really great location, we'd really like to put a parking lot there, or we'd really like to build a freeway through it. They have the right to take your property away, but they have to pay you a fair price.
Something that always comes up is what's a fair price. If you really love your house and you'd planned on holding on to it for 50 years, and passing it down to your children, do they get the price that they're going to sell it for in 75 years? No. What you get is fair market price today.
So a lot of people see that as a really unfair proposition, and to be honest, it kind of is. But it's in the Constitution. Substantive due process basically means that there are some rights that are fundamental that the government can't take them away from us at all.
The Ninth and Tenth Amendment are really kind of interesting. Those are really, I kind of say that they're individual freedoms that are not necessarily enumerated in the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment basically says that rights that aren't enumerated in the Constitution are retained by the people.
And basically what this means is, is that the Constitution is not meant to be an exhaustive list when it comes to your individual rights. rights. So just because something isn't mentioned in the Constitution doesn't mean that you don't have a right to it. Privacy, for example. You absolutely have a right to privacy as an individual.
It's not mentioned in the Constitution, but you have a right to it thanks to the Ninth Amendment. And the Tenth Amendment is very similar to the Ninth, but it has a little bit of a caveat to it. And that caveat is that the Constitution enumerates the federal government.
So the federal government is defined in the Constitution. All other rights are reserved for the states and the people. So basically what it means is that the federal government is really limited in what it can do to what is said in the Constitution. If it's not stated in the Constitution, the federal government can't do it. It's reserved for the states or the people.
One last amendment that I want to touch on. that is not part of the Bill of Rights is the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment provides for equal protection under the law. And basically what that means is it requires the government to treat people equally.
Does that mean that the government is never allowed to discriminate? The answer to that is no. What the government looks at is levels of scrutiny and classifies the extent of the extent that they can discriminate for lack of a better word. So in cases of economic and social regulation the courts apply what's called minimum scrutiny and basically what that means is is that the government has the right to discriminate against individuals based on say income level. Somebody who makes $50,000 is allowed to be in a lower tax bracket than somebody who makes $250,000.
That difference in income means that the government means that you can be discriminated against for making more money when it comes to taxes. An intermediate level of scrutiny would be gender. So I'll give you my sister as an example.
My sister's a police officer, and when she applied for the police academy, because of the kind of job that she would be doing, chasing and being chased by bad guys, she had to meet the same physical fitness standards as her male counterparts because when you look at the criminal world, I guess for lack of a better word, criminals and crime doesn't really distinguish between male and female and so a female officer who can't meet the same physical fitness Fitness standards as her male counterparts provides for a distinct disadvantage to whoever she is assigned to as a partner. Discrimination is never allowable is in cases of race, ethnicity, and fundamental rights. So things like you can't discriminate against people for voting, for example. If there is a law that is created by the government that makes it harder for one group of people to vote versus another group of people, then That law is most likely unconstitutional and violates the 14th amendment. So 14th amendment is really when you look at it a mouthful and brain-wise it's a mouthful.
There's a couple of really good project opportunities that are going to relate to the 14th amendment in the movie review and the case review. opportunities. So if you're remotely interested in the 14th Amendment, I would encourage you to take a look at those.
So that's it for now. A little overview of the Bill of Rights. All right. Welcome back to present day. So that is the end of the lecture.
Again, thinking about what did you learn? What will you take away from the lecture? Thinking beyond the topic and what is it that you can apply to your life as a result of this week's.
readings this week's lecture and what you're doing and seeing in class this week have a good one