Gov Chap 15 Vocab

Pure speech

verbal expression before an audience that has chosen to listen

Symbolic speech

the use of actions and symbols, in addition to or instead of words, to express ideas

Category

a division within a system of classification

Obscenity

anything that treats sex or nudity in an offensive or lewd manner, violates recognized standards of decency and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Slander

false speech that damages a person's reputation

Defamation

false expression that injures a person's reputation

Libel

false written or published statements that damage a person's reputation

"Fighting words"

words spoke face-to-face that are likely to cause immediate violence

Commercial speech

speech where the speaker is more likely to be engaged in commerce and the intended audience is commercial, actual, or potential consumers

Seditious speech

speech urging the resistance to lawful authority or advocating the overthrow of the government

Require

to claim or ask for by right and authority

Censorship

the act of governments prohibiting the use of publications or productions they find offensive or contrary to their own interests

Prior restraint

censorship of information before it is published

Presume

to take for granted, assume, or suppose

Outcome

a final product or end result

Gag order

an order by a judge barring the press from publishing certain types of information about a pending court case

Sequester

to hold in isolation

Petition

to request

Significant

having or likely to have influence or effect

Establishment clause

the First Amendment guarantee that prohibits state and federal governments from setting up churches, passing laws aiding one or all religions or favoring one religion over another, or passing laws requiring attendance at any church or belief in any religious idea

Secular

nonreligious; not associated with any faith-based organization

Inhibit

to prohibit from doing something

Excessive

going beyond the usual, necessary, or proper limit or degree

Free exercise clause

the First Amendment guarantee that prohibits the government from unduly interfering with the free exercise of religion

Graven image

an idol or physical object of worship

Guarantee

an assurance for the fulfillment of a condition

Jim crow laws

any of the laws requiring racial segregation in places like schools, hotels, and public transportation in the South between the end of the Reconstruction period to the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950s

Substantive due process

the principle requiring that a government action not unreasonably interfere with a fundamental or basic right

Equal protection clause

prohibits government actions from unreasonably discriminating between different groups of people

Rational basis

a standard of judicial review that examines whether a legislature had a reasonable and not an arbitrary reason for enacting a particular statute

Strict scrutiny

a standard of judicial review for a challenged policy in which the court presumes the policy to be invalid unless the government can demonstrate a compelling interest to justify the policy

Substantial relationship

a standard of judicial review that examines whether there is a close connection between the law or practice and its purpose; specifically, laws that classify based on gender must serve an important governmental purpose

Incorporation doctrine

the process by which the Bill of Rights was extended to the states and localities

Selective incorporation

the process by which the Supreme Court decided on a case-by-case basis which federal rights also applied to the states

Discrimination

treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit

Civil rights movement

the struggle by African Americans in the mid-1950s to late 1960s to be free of racial discrimination and to achieve rights, freedoms, and opportunities equal to those of whites

Sit-ins

organized demonstration tactic in which participants seat themselves in a significant location and refuse to move; a form of peaceful protest

Picketed

demonstrated, as against a government's policies or actions

Disability

a physical or mental condition that causes a person to have difficulty seeing, hearing, talking, walking, or performing basic activities of daily living

Affirmative action

policies that give preference to women or minorities for jobs, promotions, admission to schools, or other benefits, in order to make up for past or current discrimination

Racial quotas

a certain number of spots reserved for minorities

Diverse

of various kinds or forms

Sphere

the place or environment within which a person or thing exists

Militia

local groups of armed citizens

Monitor

to watch, keep track of, or check

Survellance

a watch kept over a person, group, etc., especially over a suspect or prisoner

Wiretap

an act or instance of tapping telephone or telegraph wires for evidence or other information

Expand

to increase in extent, size, volume, or scope