Unit 7 Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Vocab

Civil Liberties

Basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed -- either explicitly identified in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, or interpreted or inferred through the years by legislatures or the courts

Obscenity

Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Fighting Words

Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or incite them to acts of violence.

Clear and Present Danger Test

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.

Due Process Clause

Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Incorporation Doctrine

A constitutional doctrine through which selected provisions of the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states through the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Selective Incorporation

The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.

Establishment Clause

Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.

Free Excercise Clause

Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

Prior Restraint

Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.

Libel

Written defamation of another person. For public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to restrict libel actions are especially rigid.

Symbolic Speech

A legal term in United States law used to describe actions that purposefully and discernibly convey a particular message or statement to those viewing it.

Commercial Speech

A U.S. legal term relating to speech done on behalf of a company or individual for the intent of making a profit. It is economic in nature and usually has the intent of convincing the audience to partake in a particular action, often purchasing a specific product.

Unprotected Speech

Libel, obscenity, and fighting words which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.

Probable Cause

A reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed (for an arrest) or when evidence of the crime is present in the place to be searched (for a search).

Unreasonable Search or Seizure

A search of an individual or his/her premises including an automobile) and/or seizure of evidence found in such a search by a law enforcement officer without a search warrant and without "probable cause" to believe evidence of a crime is present.

Search Warrant

A writ issued by a magistrate that authorizes the police to search a particular place or person, specifying the place to be searched and the objects to be seized.

Exclusionary Rule

Requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.

Self Incrimination

The act of implicating oneself in a crime or exposing oneself to criminal prosecution. It may occur as a result of interrogation or may be made voluntarily.

Double Jeopardy

Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government; forbidden by the Constitution.

Property Rights

The rights of an individual to own, use, rent, invest in, buy, and sell property.

Eminent Domain

The power of a government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and state governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property taken.

Due Process Clause

Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. These established rules and regulations restrain government officials.

Procedural Due Process

Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how (the procedure) government may exercise power.

Substantive Due Process

Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what (the substance) the government

Grand Jury

A jury of 12 to 23 persons who, in private, hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed, it issues an indictment.

Indictment

A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.

Ex Post Facto Law

Retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of a person.

Plea Bargain

Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for more serious offense.

Petit Jury

A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.

Right to Privacy

An element of various legal traditions to restrain government and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals.

Civil Rights

The rights of all people to be free from irrational discrimination such as that based on race, religion, sex, or ethnic origin.

Natural Rights

The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.

Equal Protection Clause

Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against persons because of race, national origin, or sex.

De jure segregation

Segregation imposed by law.

De facto Segregation

Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Suffrage

The right to vote

Naturalization

A legal action conferring citizenship on an alien.

Grandfather Clause

A clause exempting certain classes of people or things from the requirements of a piece of legislation affecting their previous rights, privileges, or practices, a provision in several southern state constitutions designed to enfranchise poor whites and disenfranchise blacks by waiving high voting requirements for descendants of men voting before 1867

Literacy Test

Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.

Poll Tax

Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in 1966.

Jim Crow Laws

State laws formerly pervasive throughout the South requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race; ruled unconstitutional.

White Primary

Democratic Party primary in the old "one-party South" that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in 1944.

Voting Right Act of 1965

A law passed at the time of the civil rights movement. It eliminated various devices, such as literacy tests, that had traditionally been used to restrict voting by black people.

Women’s Suffrage

The right of women to vote

Equal Rights Amendment

A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The nation's first comprehensive civil rights law addressing the needs of people with disabilities, prohibiting discrimination in employment, public services, public accommodations, and telecommunications.

Affirmative Action

Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.

Civil Disobedience

Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Popularly known as the Fair Housing Act - it prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex.

Restrictive Covenant

A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.

Racial Gerrymandering

The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in 1960.

Majority-Minority District

A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization founded in 1909 to fight prejudice, lynching, and Jim Crow segregation, and to work for the betterment of "people of color." Primarily used the court system to further their cause.

Class Action Suit

Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.