Civil Liberties Vocab

Bill of Rights

the first ten amendments to the Constitution

Civil liberties

The guarantees of the safety of persons, opinions, and property from the arbitrary acts of government, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Civil Rights

A term used for those positive acts of government that seek to make constitutional guarantees a reality for all people, e.g., prohibitions of discrimination.

Alien

Foreign-born resident or non citizen.

Process of Incorporation

The process of incorporating, or including, most of the guarantees in the Bill of Rights into the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Establishment Clause

Part of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution that guarantees the separation of church and state.

Free Exercise Clause

The second part of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, guarantees to each person the right to believe whatever he or she chooses to believe in matters of religion.

Parochial

Church-related, as in parochial school.

Libel

False and malicious use of printed words.

Slander

False and malicious use of spoken words.

Sedition

Crime of attempting to overthrow the government by force, or to disrupt its lawful activities by violent acts.

Seditious Speech

Advocating, or urging, an attempt to overthrow the government by force, or to disrupt its lawful activities with violence.

Symbolic Speech

Expression by conduct; communicating ideas through facial expressions, with body language, or by carrying a sign or wearing an armband.

Picketing

Patrolling of a business site by workers who are on strike.

Prior Restraint

Idea that the government cannot curb ideas before they are expressed.

Civil disobedience

A form of protest in which people deliberately but non-violently violate the law as a means of expressing their opposition to some particular law or public policy.

Due Process

Doctrine that holds that the government must act fairly and in accord with established rules in all that it does.

Search Warrant

Court order authorizing a search.

Eminent Domain

The power of a government to take private property for public use.

Discrimination

Bias, unfairness.

Probable Cause

Reasonable grounds, a reasonable suspicion of crime.

Indictment

Formal complaint before a grand jury that charges the accused with one or more crimes.

Double jeopardy

Part of the 5th Amendment stating that no person can be put in jeopardy of life or limb twice; once a person has been tried for a crime, he or she cannot be tried again for the same crime.

Bench trial

Trial in which the judge alone hears the case.

Miranda Rule

Constitutional rights that police must read to a suspect before questioning can occur.

Treason

Betrayal of one’s country; in the Constitution, by “levying war against the United States or offering comfort or aid to its enemies”.