Learning Activity: Bill of Rights and Due Process of Law

As a Supreme Court justice, Robert H. Jackson based his decisions and opinions on the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Students should review the Bill of Rights and the other key amendments that form the basis for the Court’s and Jackson’s rulings. These often included the first ten amendments and the 14th Amendment.

Provide students with the following statement by Robert H. Jackson [Document A] about the Bill of Rights and ask small groups to explain what the statement means in their own words. Ask: Which rights does Jackson highlight in this statement? What did Jackson mean when he said "...they [rights] depend on the outcome of no elections."?

Document A

"The very purpose of the Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes [changes] of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections." [Taken from: Robert H. Jackson, West Virginia v. Barnette (1943)]

Ask students to review Section 1 of the 14th Amendment [Document B] and explain what rights it protects. Ask what rights are enumerated in the 14th Amendment? Ask students to explain why this amendment is so important in protecting an individual's civil rights from states' actions. Provide students with the definition for due process of law [Document C] and ask them to provide examples of when and how this provision of the Constitution protects individuals.

For a discussion of the origins of the 14th Amendment, visit www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/. Click on "About The Series" and select Program Two: A New Kind of Justice, DVD Segment 1, The Two Faces of the Fourteenth Amendment and Segment 2, The Power of Judicial Dissent. This website provides a history of the Court and features a number of its landmark decisions.

Document B

Amendment 14

Section 1. Citizens of the United 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. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge [deprive] the privileges or immunities [freedoms] 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.

Document C

Due Process of Law: The right of every citizen to be protected against arbitrary action by government as stated in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. "Due process also means that every person is entitled to certain safeguards that guarantee that a trial is fair and impartial. Some basic due process rights include the right to be assisted by a lawyer, the right to a neutral decision maker (judge or jury), the right to know the charges against you, the right to question witnesses against you, and the right to present testimony in your favor." (Taken from: "Using Literature to Teach the Rule of Law, Social Education, May/June 2008, p. 166. www.socialstudies.org)