AP Govt/Pol: UNIT 3: Civil Liberties/Civil Rights

Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties

Constitutional freedoms guaranteed to all citizens

civil rights

Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.

Slander

the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Libel

A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.

Secular

Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters

parochial

religious in nature

Lemon Test

The three-part test for Establishment Clause cases that a law must pass before it is declared constitutional: it must have a secular purpose; it must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and it must not cause excessive entanglement with religion.

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.

Total Incorporation

view that the states must obey all provisions of the Bill of Rights because of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment

Prior Restraint

government censorship of information before it is published or broadcast

Infringement

A violation, as of a law, regulation, or agreement; a breach

Affirmative Action

A policy in educational admissions or job hiring that gives special attention or compensatory treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination.

De Facto

(adj.) actually existing or in effect, although not legally required or sanctioned; (adv.) in reality, actually

De Jure

literally, "by law"; refers to legally enforced practices, such as school segregation in the South before the 1960s

Wall of Separation

separation of church and state

Social Order

an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society's members base their daily lives

Social Movement

A movement that represents the demands of a large segment of the public for political, economic, or social change.

counsel

6th amendment right to an attorney

Defamation

the action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel.

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.

render

(v.) to cause to become; to perform; to deliver officially; to process, extract

exclusionary rule

improperly gathered evidence may not be introduced in a criminal trial