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Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution; restricts the powers of the central government, gives American's freedom
Civil Liberties
Legal constitutional protections against the government, formally set down in the Bill of Rights
Free exercise clause
The second clause of the First Amendment; it prohibits the U.S. government from interfering with a citizen's right to practice his or her religion
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th Amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade, as it violated their parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion
Symbolic Speech
Nonverbal communication, such as burning a flag or wearing an armband. The Supreme Court has accorded some symbolic speech protection under the first amendment.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
Wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War was "pure speech," or symbolic speech, thus protected by the First Amendment
Time, place, and manner regulations
Government regulations that place restrictions on free speech. These regulations, specifying when, where, and in what way speech is allowed, are applied when unrestricted free speech will conflict with the rights of others.
Defamatory speech
Wrongfully hurting a person's good reputation. The law imposes a general duty on all persons to refrain from making false,defamatory statements about others
Obscene speech
Depicts sexual conduct in a manner that is "patently offensive" to community standards, and lacks serious artistic, political, or scientific value
"Clear and present danger"
Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
Schenck v. United States (1919)
A 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
Government can almost never use prior restraint (crossing out sections of an article before publication)-protections for the press were established here. Defense Department employee Daniel Ellsburg leaked some confidential files indicating that the war in Vietnam was going poorly, the government sought to prevent the publication of these "Pentagon Papers" by the New York Times. Court held that executive efforts to prevent the publication violated the 1st Amendment were forbidden
Prior restraint
Government censorship of information before it is published or broadcast
First Amendment
Protects freedom of speech, religion, and the press, as well as the right to assemble and petition. 1791
Second Amendment
Protects a militia's and an individual's right to bear arms. 1791
Cruel and unusual punishment
Punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Cruel and unusual punishment includes torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed
Eighth Amendment
Prohibits excessive fines and excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment. 1791
Fourth Amendment
Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets out requirements for search warrants based on probable cause. 1791
Metadata
Data that describes other data.
Selective Incorporation
Judicial doctrine whereby most but not all protections found in the bill of rights are made applicable to states via the 14th amendment
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
Determined whether the Second Amendment applies to the individual states. The Court held that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" protected by the Second Amendment is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states. The decision cleared up the uncertainty left in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller as to the scope of gun rights in regard to the states.
Fourteenth Amendment
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the priviledges or immunities of citizens of the US; 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."
Miranda v. Arizona
In a number of cases, defendants were not informed of their rights under the 5th Amendment. Miranda raped a woman and admitted to it after not being informed of the right to not self-incriminate. Result: The Court cannot use any statements obtained without the statement of "Miranda" rights. Guidelines to police interrogation 5th, 6th A
Miranda Rule
The rule that police (when interrogating you after an arrest) are obliged to warn you that anything you say may be used as evidence and to read you your constitutional rights (the right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent until advised by a lawyer)
Fifth Amendment
Sets out rules for indictment by grand jury and eminent domain, protects the right to due process, and prohibits self-incrimination and double jeopardy. 1791
Sixth Amendment
Protects the right to a fair and speedy public trial by jury, including the right to be notified of the accusations, confront the accuser, obtain witnesses and retain counsel. 1791
Unreasonable searches and seizures
Obtaining evidence in a haphazard or random manner, a practice prohibited by the fourth amendment. Probable cause and/or a search warrant are required for a legal and proper search for and seizure of incriminating evidence.
Warrantless searches
A search based on reasonable suspicion made without first seeking a warrant and permissible under specified circumstances.
USA Patriot Act (2001)
Strengthens the federal government's power to conduct surveillance, perform searches, and detain individuals in order to combat terrorism
Due process clause
Clause contained in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Over the years, it has been construed to guarantee to individuals a variety of rights ranging from economic liberty to criminal procedural rights to protection from arbitrary governmental action
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants unable to afford their own attorneys.
Exclusionary rule
Evidence cannot be introduced into trial if it was not constitutionally obtained.
Roe v. Wade (1973)
The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester.
Right to privacy
The right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights applied to the states through the 14th Amendment.
Equal protection clause
A clause of the fourteenth amendment that forbids any state to deny equal protection of the laws to any individual within its jurisdiction
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963)
A letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. after he had been arrested when he took part in a nonviolent march against segregation. It supported nonviolent protest methods
National Organization for Women (NOW)
A leading feminist organization; National Organization of Women (1966) wanted Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce its legal mandate to end sex discrimination
Pro-life movement
Life begins at contraception so fetus is entitled to equal protection by 14th amendment
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
School segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the United States.
Equal protection
A clause of the fourteenth amendment that forbids any state to deny equal protection of the laws to any individual within its jurisdiction
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972
This law prohibits gender discrimination by institutions of higher learning that receive federal funds. It has been used to increase funding for women's sports.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.
Plessy v. Ferguson
The state of Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Plessy--who was 1/8 black --took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. Established "separate but equal", also know as segregation, as constitutional. After this, Jim Crow Laws, laws that discriminated against African Americans, spread across the US and were heavily enforced in the South
Affirmative action
Programs intended to make up for past discrimination by helping minority groups and women gain access to jobs and opportunities
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Affirmative action is constitutional, but racial quota systems are not.
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