The Language of The

American Constitution
CANCHE CAIUCH GADIEL ISAAC
FERNANDEZ MENA ANA LUCELY
FUENTES MILLAN RAUL ARZOBI
HERNANDEZ AGUILAR AIMEE ELLINOR
KUMUL POOT NOE ALEJANDRO
MENDEZ GERONIMO KARLA
PADRON CETZ PAULINA DE LUCERO
POOL VENTURA MAIRA ESTEFANIA
PUC CASTILLO LUIS ENRIQUE
SANCHEZ CASTILLO NAOMY
 Constitutional Law
The political order of the United
States

The constitution as the supreme

legal reference

The bill of rights

Other amendments to the

constitution

The U. S. Patriot Act

 Constitutional Law. The political
order of the United States
• The branch of public law that studies
constitutions is constitutional law.

• The constitution is the fundamental law that

establishes the conception and organization of
the powers of government, regulates,
distributes and limits functions and faculties.
regulates, distributes and limits the functions
and faculties of its various organs, prescribes the
way in which its sovereign powers are exercised
and on the other hand proclaims and ensures
human rights and civil liberties..

The language of the american constitution 3

• The USA is a nation composed of a federal
government and fifty state government.

• Federal system with two levels of sovereignty:

federal and the fifty federated states.

• American political system generates parallel

political structures within each of the three
branches of the government: the legislative, the
executive, and the judiciary.

• The federal legislature is vested in the U. S.

Congress and each of its states with legislatures
assemblies.

• The executive is held by the president of the U.S.

and the states with their each one of their
governors.

• The judicial has U. S. courts and fifty state courts

these counts with three levels of system.

• Each state has its state constitution.

The language of the american constitution 4

Constitution:
• The federal congress legislates through a catalog of subjects and these have been expanded through
broad interpretation.
• Legislation on any matter corresponds to the legislatures.
• In the ordinary legislation, the competences in matters of education, public health, agriculture,
conservation, highways, family issues, successions, contracts, welfare, instrastate commerce, public
safety, definition of crimes, sanctions, corrections and regulation.
• Prohibits states from enter into any treaty, alliamce, or confederation and coin money.
• The powers and faculties of title I of the constitution of 1789 reserves for: national currency,
immigration, the regulation, commerce with foreign nations and interstate gcommerce.
• The good functioning of the two shared powers, according to experts in political law, is due to the
two institutions: The U. S. Supreme Court, which interprets constitutional clauses, and the
Constitution of 1789 with its twenty-six amendments.
• The federated states cannot go against the spirit of the constitution or hinder the enforcement of
federal laws.

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 The constitution as the
supreme legal reference
• The constitution is a fundamental law of U. S. federal system of government, it specifies the
organs of government, power, competencies, jurisdictions and fundamental rights if citizens.
• Scholars considering that the starting point of the legal system is the American legal system.
• The legal system is determined by a written codification of its legal, social and political
foundations.
• The drafting of the constitution in the United States is almost coincides with its birth as an
independent nation, before the current constitution there was another called The Articles of
Confederation that failed the central government due to its few powers, since sovereignty
was expressly reserved to the states individually.
• The constitution is a carefully balanced document in two ways:
1. Society's need for order and the individuals right to freedom. separation of powers
tempered for checks and balances of each against the others reduces the dangers to
individual liberty.
2. A balance is sought between federal power and the federated states
• The Constitution was drafted in plain language, in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 by fifty-five delegates
from the thirteen founding states to amend the Articles of Confederation.
• In the preamble, we the people of the United States set these objectives: form a more perfect Union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare
and secure the blessings of liberty.
• After the preamble, seven titles follow, each with its own articles, the first three deal with the legislative
branch of government, the executive branch and the judicial branch.
• The fourth deals with relations among the states and the person charged with treason, felony or other
crimes, as well as full faith and credit shall be given to public acts, records and judicial proceedings.
• The fifth deals with the modification of the procedure for the constitution.
• The sixth has four important issues: one the assumption of the U. S. of the debts contracted and the
engagements entered into by the states before the constitution, two the declaration of the supremacy of
the constitution as the supreme law of the land, three the obligation by oath or promise to defend the
constitution by the senators, the house of representatives and state legislatures and executive and judicial
officers, four the prohibition of which type of proof of affiliation to a religious concession as a requirement
for public office.
• The seven ratifies the minimum number of nine states for the validity of the constitution

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 THE BILLS OF RIGHTS
• In 1791 the first ten amendments to the constitution were approved, which meant a significant
limitation of the powers of the state
• The first amendment guarantees the rights of conscience,
• The second amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.
• The third amendment guarantees private law.
• The fourth amendment guarantees the inviolability of the domicile or habitual residence.
• The fifth amendment clearly states the rights of citizens.
• The sixth amendment speaks of the various procedural guarantees of the defendant.
• The seventh amendment talks about the right of the jury but in civil proceedings.
• The eighth amendment prohibits disproportionate bail, excessive fines, and cruel or unusual
punishment.
• The nigth amendment prohibits the interpretation of the rights of the constitution.
• The tenth limits the federal power to the faculties that the constitution has delegated to them and
to those that it prohibits to the states.

The bills of rights 8

Other amendments to the constitution
• Subsequent constitutional amendments to The Bill of Rights are operational or organizational in nature.
• The most important amendments are related to civil rights, they reflect historical landmarks related to
individual rights.
• Slavery and involuntary servitude are abolished in the thirteenth amendment.
• In the fourteenth amendment it has been used frequently by the supreme court in its decisions, this is
usually called the equal protection clause.
• In the fifteenth amendment it guarantees the right to vote and prohibits its restriction for on account of
race, color or previous condition of servitude.
• The 19th amendment guarantees the right to vote, it cannot be denied or abridged on account of sex.
• The twenty-fourth amendment deals with the right to vote that neither the federal government nor any
state may deny or abridge for failure to pay poll tax or other nature.
• The twenty-sixth amendment deals with the fact that neither the federal government nor any state can
deny or reduce for reasons of age any citizen over the age of eighteen.
• The eighteenth amendment prohibited the manufacture of sale, transportation of alcoholic beverages as
well as the import or export of the U. S., this gave rise to the dry law.

Other amendments to the constitution 9

 The U. S. Patriot Act AFFECTED LAWS
ECPCA, FISA, Federal Wiretap
Statute, Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure, US Code, National
THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACK Security.
The twn towers of The Worls Trade
Center de N. Y.
THE US PATRIOT ACT OR
Making changes to the law legislation, for
USAPA
example in administrative agencies FBI, CIA,
The most important modifications
INS.
have been the approval of the Uniting
and Strengthening American by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required
DRAFTED LAWS to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
1. Increase the powers the Act.
executive branch, judicial review, SUNSET CLAUSE
congressional supervisión. a) In general.
2. Expand the Powers of law- b) Exception.
enforcement agencies.
3. Exchange of information
 • The first two were to enhancing domestic
security against terrorism and enhancing
surveillance procedures.
• The third International Law for the Reduction of
Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism.
• The fourth talks about protecting the border.
• The fifth talks about removing obstacles to

USAPA investigating terrorism

• The sixth talks about providing for victims of
terrorism, public safety officers and their families.
TEN TITLES • The seventh talks about the increased information
sharing for critical infrastructure protection.
• The eighth strengthening the criminal laws against
terrorism.
• The ninth improving intelligence.
• The tenth miscellaneous
 US PATRIOT ACT

Increased its surveillance powers over

American citizens and foreign nationals
contained in the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act

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