What would life be like if we Americans were not allowed to express ourselves and state our own opinions? Would we resort to an era where government controls all without any input from us citizens? If there were no Freedom of Speech, we would be in danger of returning to a system of absolutism where monarchs and queens hold total power. Without the Ninth Amendment, which grants reserved powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, tyranny such as when the colonists were under British rule could take control once again. Once the colonists were separated from England, they formed the first written constitution, called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation had many flaws, resulting in the establishment of the
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Des Moines, Iowa in 1969, students at a public school wore black armbands to protest against the war in Vietnam. The protestors were suspended from school for silently expressing their attitudes towards the war. The parents of the suspended students sued the school for they believed that their children had their First Amendment rights violated. A U.S. district court ruled in favor of the school, resulting in an appeal of the students. When the appeals court denied the students, they brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court where the high court ruled in favor of the protestors with a ratio of seven votes to two. The Supreme Court finalized that the school had punished the petitioners unfairly since the students did not disrupt the learning process or intrude upon the rights of others. The students possessed the right to free …show more content…
Jack Kevorkian v. the People of the State of Michigan involves a pathologist who was being charged for assisting two people in the act of taking their own lives. The focus of the case is the question of whether people have the right to kill themselves and if it is considered illegal to help someone else do the deed. Dr. Kevorkian administered poisonous chemicals and gases to terminally ill patients, stating himself that “at least 130 people” have willingly died because of his actions. Kevorkian believed that the Constitution involves a person’s Ninth Amendment right to a dignified death. However, the State of Michigan wanted to prosecute him for second-degree murder. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens have no Constitutional right to end their lives. Kevorkian was sentenced to a ten to twenty-five year jail time and later paroled in 2007. Due to the attention brought to the Ninth amendment by Kevorkian’s case, several states have legalized death with dignity, agreeing that people have the right to their own bodies and
Des Moines, Iowa in 1969, students at a public school wore black armbands to protest against the war in Vietnam. The protestors were suspended from school for silently expressing their attitudes towards the war. The parents of the suspended students sued the school for they believed that their children had their First Amendment rights violated. A U.S. district court ruled in favor of the school, resulting in an appeal of the students. When the appeals court denied the students, they brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court where the high court ruled in favor of the protestors with a ratio of seven votes to two. The Supreme Court finalized that the school had punished the petitioners unfairly since the students did not disrupt the learning process or intrude upon the rights of others. The students possessed the right to free …show more content…
Jack Kevorkian v. the People of the State of Michigan involves a pathologist who was being charged for assisting two people in the act of taking their own lives. The focus of the case is the question of whether people have the right to kill themselves and if it is considered illegal to help someone else do the deed. Dr. Kevorkian administered poisonous chemicals and gases to terminally ill patients, stating himself that “at least 130 people” have willingly died because of his actions. Kevorkian believed that the Constitution involves a person’s Ninth Amendment right to a dignified death. However, the State of Michigan wanted to prosecute him for second-degree murder. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens have no Constitutional right to end their lives. Kevorkian was sentenced to a ten to twenty-five year jail time and later paroled in 2007. Due to the attention brought to the Ninth amendment by Kevorkian’s case, several states have legalized death with dignity, agreeing that people have the right to their own bodies and