Chapter One

Chapter One 

Introduction and Overview 

Chapter Outline

A.  Why I Created This Resource

B.  Scope and Focus

C.  How to Use This OER

D.  Before You Begin 

E.  Resources

F.  About Professor Bastien

A. Why I Created This Resource

OERs (Open Educational Resources) are free educational materials that anyone can use, share, and adapt with the creator’s permission. I created this OER after more than twenty years of teaching civil rights and liberties because I was never able to find a textbook that met my students' needs. Although there are many excellent textbooks available that include the topics covered in my introductory survey course, most are either written for law students and assume advanced legal knowledge, or they are designed for high school students and do not provide enough detail for college-level analysis. Additionally,  textbooks that pertain to civil rights are extremely expensive and become outdated very quickly because the law is constantly changing.

It is my hope that this OER will provide undergraduate students and their professors with a resource that is free, user-friendly, and comprehensive. Because it is available online, the text can be easily updated to reflect new cases, laws, and developments. Students who have never taken a course in civil rights should be able to understand the materials presented here, and if they find any constitutional law topics confusing, the resources listed below will be helpful. Conversely, students who have always loved learning about their rights should be able to discover new information that keeps them engaged.

Speaking of staying engaged, I realize that some students may be studying this topic only because it is a required course for their major, while others may feel cautious about studying civil rights because of  the constant, divisive coverage of politics in the media. Regardless, learning more about your rights and increasing your civic knowledge is empowering.  As John Adams said in 1765, "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right...and a desire to know."
 

B.  Scope and Focus

This OER is designed for introductory-level undergraduate courses on civil rights and liberties.  My goal is to provide a resource with more depth and context than the types of publications that are usually assigned for high school courses, while avoiding some of the overly technical concepts and details that are found in law school textbooks.  A small portion of the material in Chapter 13 of this OER is remix content from another source.  A remix involves using selected portions of other OERs so they can be combined and tailored for another course. All remix material is clearly labeled. OERs are intentionally designed to allow educators to borrow, revise, reuse, and remix one another’s content.

This OER starts by providing a survey of civil rights and civil liberties in the United States, beginning with an examination of the Constitution and the role of the Supreme Court.  It continues by looking at core doctrines of constitutional law, such as due process, the incorporation doctrine, and limits on judicial authority.  After that, it analyzes First Amendment protections for religion, free speech, and related rights. Following this, it explores the Second Amendment, as well as the rights of the criminally accused. This OER also assesses civil rights as they relate to race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, and immigration status, as well as reproductive rights, privacy rights, and voting rights. This resource concludes by discussing emerging rights and future challenges to our democracy.

C.  How to Use This OER 

For Students: The Table of  Contents on the home page lists all chapters in the OER, and the hyperlinks at the top of the page and within the table of contents let readers jump directly to any chapter. The topics are arranged in the order commonly used in civil rights courses, although some professors using this resource may choose to assign the chapters in a different order or focus only on selected topics. Each chapter is written to stand on its own, allowing students to understand the material without reading the chapters in sequence.  Because this OER is regularly updated to reflect changes in the law, and its digital format allows for direct links to external resources, I have not included a traditional glossary. Instead, key terms throughout the text are hyperlinked to reliable external sources that provide definitions. For any additional terms that are not directly linked, please refer to the list of resources below.

For Professors:  Although this OER was written for undergraduate college students, it may also be useful for high school teachers who instruct government, civil rights, or history courses. Those of us who have experience teaching civil rights and liberties to high school and community college students know that supplementing reading assignments with class discussions exposes students to multiple perspectives and deepens their understanding of the assigned topics. Before doing so, it is important to establish classroom norms. Columbia University’s Center for Teaching and Learning provides practical strategies in this article  for building a high-trust, low-stress classroom environment with a specific focus on setting expectations and partnering with students to establish such norms, especially when dealing with controversial topics. (Columbia CTL, n.d.).  I also recommend designing assessments that go beyond terminology review and memorization by asking students to apply course concepts to real-world situations, reflect on personal experiences, and demonstrate meaningful understanding of course concepts and how they apply to our world, rather than asking for simple recall. Nicole Messier of the University of Illinois Chicago has developed a teaching resource that helps educators design such assessments  (Messier, n.d.).

D. Before You Begin

• Students, get ready to read. Understanding civil rights and liberties requires reading. Videos, podcasts, and other resources can be engaging, and they certainly complement reading cases. However, students must commit to spending time each week reading the entire assigned chapter in this OER and learning how the Constitution has been interpreted.  These chapters are not terribly long, and participating in a weekly session of focused reading, free from outside distractions, is essential to truly grasp the foundational concepts.  Additionally, the assigned cases in this OER are presented either in a concise narrative format or as 6–8 page excerpts, rather than full opinions.  Supreme Court decisions often range from 30 to 70 pages, and some exceed 100 pages, so I have condensed the cases as much as possible.  My goal in writing this OER is to provide the most relevant information for each topic without overwhelming or boring readers. However, a reasonable amount of reading is necessary.

• Beware of chatbots. Please note that AI summaries of cases are often unreliable because they can omit important nuances of cases and even invent details or fake cases.  Stanford University published a study that found leading AI-powered legal research tools from well-respected companies like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters still “hallucinate” false or unsupported legal information in up to one-third of responses.  Several lawyers have already been sanctioned for submitting briefs that cited entirely fictitious AI-generated cases (Stanford HAI, 2024).  

• Learn the basics of how to read a case. Students need to be familiar with the basic components of a Supreme Court opinion and certain key terms before using this resource. Please read How to Read a U.S. Supreme Court Opinion, a helpful article by the American Bar Association.  Make sure to pay attention to these terms in the article: Affirm, Case Citation, Certiorari, Concurring Opinion, Disposition, Dissenting Opinion, Main Opinion/Majority Opinion, Remand, Reverse, Syllabus, Void, Vacate. These twelve terms are used frequently in the rest of the chapters in this OER, so knowing what they mean before reading anything else is essential. 

• Bookmark helpful websites. The website Oyez.org is very popular because it provides very short case summaries for almost all Supreme Court cases.  It is helpful for getting a quick overview of a case or clarifying things you might not understand, but it doesn't provide enough details for many questions professors might ask about cases.  Think of it as a companion to reading the excerpts included in the chapters, not a replacement for reading them.  

• Know where to find full cases. If you want to read an entire case that I summarized in this OER because you feel like the excerpt did not give you enough context, you can look up cases on the Supreme Court's official website or Cornell Law School's site, which provide the full text of many Supreme Court cases as well as articles that help explain the law. 

E.  Additional Resources

Please note that the URLs listed below are presented as plain text rather than active hyperlinks in order to avoid triggering automated security filters.

1. Constitution Center – Interactive Constitution This interactive site explains each clause of the Constitution and posts essays by scholars from a variety of perspectives.                 https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution

2. Cornell Wex Legal Dictionary/Encyclopedia
   This is one of the most user-friendly legal dictionaries online. It explains legal terms in plain language and often links to related cases or laws, making it a great companion when you come across unfamiliar vocabulary. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex

3. First Amendment: Cases, Controversies, and Contexts (Open Casebook)
   This free, open textbook dives deep into First Amendment law. It includes major cases, discussions of real controversies, and explanations that put everything into context.
   https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/first-amendment-cases-controversies-and-contexts

4. Georgetown Law Library – Case Law Research Tutorial If you are looking for a practical guide for beginners on how to find and read cases, this is a great website. https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/cases

5. Justia US Supreme Court Center This site provides the full-text of most opinions, plus it provides summaries and links to state cases and statutes. https://supreme.justia.com 

6. The Law Dictionary. This is a free, online legal dictionary. You can use this to look up terms you don't understand that are not already hyperlinked to a definition. https://thelawdictionary.org/ 

7. Legal Information Institute (LII) – Cornell Law School
   One of the pioneers in free online legal information, Cornell’s LII makes the law accessible to everyone. You’ll find the U.S. Code, Supreme Court opinions, federal rules, and other resources. https://www.law.cornell.edu/

8. MassBay Community College Library – LibGuides
   This is MassBay’s library guide hub (LibGuides), where you can find their Constitutional Law resources, research tools, and primary source links.  All colleges and universities have similar guides on their library websites.  https://massbay.libguides.com/

9. SCOTUSblog If you want to read commentary on Supreme Court cases that have just been decided, this is a great site to access.  It also provides plain-language case previews and updates on pending decisions. https://www.scotusblog.com 

10. Supreme Court Oral Argument Audio The Supreme Court posts oral argument audio and transcripts on this site, which can help you to connect written opinions with live arguments. https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx 

F.  About Professor Bastien

I serve as the Civic Engagement Coordinator at MassBay Community College, where I am also a tenured Professor of Legal Studies and Government.  As a first-generation college student, I earned an Associate of Arts from Northern Essex Community College, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bradford College, and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School. In addition to holding a Title IX Coordinator certification from the National Association of College and University Attorneys, I earned a certificate in Inclusive Teaching Practices at Fitchburg State University. During the summer, I teach Employment Law for Framingham State University’s Master of Human Resources program.

For the first decade of my career, I was a practicing attorney and focused on criminal defense, employment law, and general practice cases. I also taught part-time in a variety of settings, including an alternative high school, a vocational program, an inner-city honors academy, community colleges, and even correctional facilities. Eventually, I transitioned to teaching full-time and still maintain an active law license while volunteering with the Massachusetts Bar Association Pro Bono Panel. My current work includes coordinating civic engagement initiatives at MassBay Community College and teaching criminal justice and government courses. I also help facilitate professional development seminars and support administration with program development, assessment, and accreditation processes.  

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my husband and son, going on easy hikes with my two rescue dogs, attending live music shows, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean or New Hampshire lakes, and socializing with a close but small circle of friends I have known for over thirty years.

Click here to see my LinkedIn profile.   

Sources

Please note that the URLs listed below are presented as plain text rather than active hyperlinks in order to avoid triggering automated security filters.

1. Adams, J. (1765). A dissertation on the canon and the feudal law (No. 3). In R. J. Taylor (Ed.), The Adams Papers: Papers of John Adams (Vol. 1, pp. 111–117). Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1765)

2. American Bar Association. (n.d.). How to read a U.S. Supreme Court opinion. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_education_network/how_to_read_a_us_supreme_court_opinion

3. Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Creating a high-trust, low-stress class environment. https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/high-trust-low-stress

4. Cornell Law School. (n.d.). Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu

5. Cornell Law School. (n.d.). Wex legal dictionary and encyclopedia. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex

6. Georgetown University Law Library. (n.d.). Case law research tutorial. https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/cases

7. Justia. (n.d.). U.S. Supreme Court Center. https://supreme.justia.com

8. MassBay Community College Library. (n.d.). LibGuides. https://massbay.libguides.com

9. Messier, N. (n.d.). Authentic assessments. University of Illinois Chicago, Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence. https://teaching.uic.edu/cate-teaching-guides/assessment-grading-practices/authentic-assessments/

10. National Constitution Center. (n.d.). Interactive Constitution. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution

11. Open Textbook Library. (n.d.). First Amendment: Cases, controversies, and contexts. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/first-amendment-cases-controversies-and-contexts

12. Oyez. (n.d.). Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court media. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology. https://www.oyez.org

13. SCOTUSblog. (n.d.). SCOTUSblog. https://www.scotusblog.com

14. Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. (2024, May 23). AI on trial: Legal models hallucinate in 1 out of 6 (or more) benchmarking queries. https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-trial-legal-models-hallucinate-1-out-6-or-more-benchmarking-queries

15. Supreme Court of the United States. (n.d.). Opinions. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/opinions.aspx

16. Supreme Court of the United States. (n.d.). Oral argument audio. https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx