Political Science Final

For Mr. Nichols' Class

mass media

mass media

• communication channels, like newspapers and radio and TV broadcasts, through which ppl can communicate to large audiences

• newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, the Internet, and any other printed/electronic means of communication

print media

• communication channels that consist of printed materials, like newspapers and magazines

  • a type of mass media

electronic media

• communication channels that involve electronic transmissions, like radio, TV, and the Internet

  • a type of mass media

sound bite

• a recorded comment, lasting for only a few seconds, that captures a thought/perspective and has an immediate impact on views/listeners (goal is to capture interest/attention of audience)

  • ex: “Cleaning a house with a toddler is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos.”

spin

• a reporter’s slant on, or interpretation of, a particular event or action; as a verb, to communicate it in a way that changes the way people are likely to perceive it

  • a form of propaganda

spin doctor

• a political candidate’s press adviser who tries to convince reporters to give a story/event concerning the candidate a particular “spin” (interpretation/slant)

talk radio

• aka the “Wild West” of the media

• dominated by conservatives

• talk-show hosts don’t try to hide their political biases - if anything, they exaggerate them for effect (aka robust/radical conservatism promoted)

  • hosts might appear to care more about entertainment value of their statements than whether they are, strictly speaking, true

• no journalistic conventions are observed

• argument for them: they provide a great populist forum when taken together

• argument against them: they empower fringe groups, perhaps incr their rage

• inspired by FDR’s “fireside chats” on radio

• modern ones became popular in US during 1990s

  • possible by Fed Communication’s repeal of the fairness doctrine in 1987

    • est 1949, had required honest, equitable, + balanced reporting of controversial issues

Rush Limbaugh

• talk radio personality, espouses robust/radical conservatism

• audience mainly middle-aged white men

• millions of listeners who vote & can thus influence the outcome of Repub pres primaries

  • thus, while no official position in gov or in Repub party, he has considerable influence

Bill O’Reilly

• American conservative political commentator, television and radio personality, and author

• best known for hosting the Fox News Channel (FNC) program The [His Last Name] Factor and, prior to that, coanchoring the syndicated tabloid television news program Inside Edition

• His outspokenness and aggressive interviewing style helped to define the FNC brand and to solidify his cultivated image as a gruff plainspoken commentator

• faced allegations of sexual harassment, denied any wrongdoing => left FNC

hyperlocalism

• news coverage of very local events, especially to the exclusion of more important world events

• the coverage of the small-scale events of suburban life that were once the province of only community newspapers

narrowcasting

• the move toward highly specific subject matter that appeals strongly to a limited # of viewers

  • magazines have always done this (ex home decorating)

  • b/c lots cable channels, this is now important on TV, too

    • networks appeal to members of particular ethnic groups/hobbyists/history buffs, ect

blog

• name comes from “web log”

• began as online diaries by indivs (personal observations/descriptions of daily activities)

  • from beginning, tho, most very political

  • many popular ones evolved into profitable businesses & resemeble online magazines more than expressions of indiv opinion

    • ex Vox.com (left-wing site, specializes in explanatory journalism)

  • inexpensive & nontraditional form of news distribution

podcast

• the distribution of audio/video files to personal computers/mobile devices like smart phones

• almost anyone can make one & make it available for downloading onto computers/mobile devices

  • inexpensive & nontraditional form of news distribution

citizen journalism

• decentralized content distribution, whether a formal, regularly updated blog or a one-time posting of newsworthy event recorded by a smartphone

  • journalism that is conducted by people who are not professional journalists but who disseminate information using Web sites, blogs, and social media

consolidation

• the concentration of ownership of our news sources into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations

  • 90% of media owned by a handful of corporate conglomerates

  • means less diversity of opinion

  • means way less local news, esp in rural areas

  • means corporate issues - which are not same as ppl’s issues - more in the news

merger

• an agreement that unites two existing companies into one new company

  • combine two separate businesses into a single new legal entity

  • true mergers are uncommon because it’s rare for two equal companies to mutually benefit from combining resources and staff, including their CEOs

acquisition

• a business transaction that occurs when one company purchases and gains control over another company

• Unlike mergers, acquisitions do not result in the formation of a new company

  • Instead, the purchased company gets fully absorbed by the acquiring company.

    • Sometimes this means the acquired company gets liquidated.

    • Acquiring a business is similar to buying an existing business or franchise.

Roger Ailes

• made Fox News what is is today

• helped create 3 Repub presidents (Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, & George H. W. Bush)

• 1984-1988 = #1 Repub strategist

• from Warren, Ohio

• his father was a factory foreman, v tough + stern & hit him w/ belt

• had hemophilia (could bleed out w/ slight injury)

• “if your audience likes you, they’ll forgive almost anything you do”

• worked at Mike Douglas Show => became producer of show over Larry

• 1968 during Nixon campaign => he said to Nixon “you need a media advisor” => he left show to work on Nixon campaign

  • told Nixon to take TV/media seriously if he wanted to win pres

  • created for Nixon “the man in the arena” vibe (inspired by Hitler speeches) = big + successful propaganda piece

• he did lots of exec + poli coaching & had his on

• Mitch McConnell got into Senate b/c of him (commercials)

• helped along Willie Horton neg ads

• “everybody has an agenda”

• started “America’s Talking” = wanted to bury poli past w/ a talk show

  • created almost 12 hrs on live TV

  • didin’t care what was said as long as it was juicy

  • Sean Kennedy started on this show

  • reached 20 mil subscribers

• when he joined Fox News, it wasn’t about journalism, it was about getting biggest audience possible

• Clinton-Lewinsky scandal jumpstarted Fox News

  • he didn’t respect ppl who got caught

• sexualized women for viewers + ppl in Fox building

• bought his local news channel (Putnam County, NY)

  • local paper became poli tool

  • his mission was to change town from Blue to Red

  • he wanted a battle & if there was no battle, he would make one

  • lots of staff on local Putnam paper left

• paved the way for conspiracy theories to become mainstream

• Fox News became #1 cable news channel

• Gretchen Carlson v. him = sued him for sexual harassment

Walter Cronkite

• “the most trusted man in America”

• anchorman of the CBS Evening News

  • signed off nightly broadcasts for nearly two decades with a simple statement: 'And that's the way it is. '

    • he believed newsman's highest ideal was to report the facts as he sees them, without regard for the consequences or controversy that may ensue

• he provided a voice of reason during the Vietnam and Watergate eras

• helped launch the CBS Evening News

• his style = honesty, impartiality and level-headedness

Rupert Murdoch

• the founder and head of News Corporation (aka News Corp.), a global media conglomerate

• created Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986

• a famous war correspondent and newspaper publisher

• monopolizing control over international media outlets

• conservative political views

wedge issue

• a political or social issue, often of a controversial or divisive nature, which splits apart a demographic or population group

  • ex:  legal access to abortion, gun ownership, issues related to race or sexual orientation, ect

  • there’s a lot of overlap between wedge issues and culture war issues

Rudy Giuliani

• 1-time mayor of NY

• Trump’s attorney (lawyer)

  • doesn’t want Trump to testify b/c he’ll be “trapped by perjury”

  • “truth isn’t truth”

  • credibility gap

• tough view on crime

• known for focused leadership during 9/11

• worked tirelessly to jail drug dealers, prosecute white-collar criminals and disrupt organized crime and government corruption

Kellyanne Conway

• a professional pollster and political consultant who was the 2016 campaign manager for President Trump and served as senior counselor to the president

  • the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign

• responded to comments that Sean Spicer, Trump’s 1st press secretary, had lied about his inauguration being the most well-attended in history (a provable falsehood) by saying “don’t be so overly dramatic”

  • says “Spicer gave alternative facts”

America’s Talking

• a channel started by Roger Ailes = a talk show

• Ailes created almost 12 hours of TV live

• Ailes didn’t care what was said as long as it was juicy

• Sean Kennedy started here

• it reached 20 mil subscribers under Ailes

• In January 1996, NBC announced plans to partner with Microsoft to launch MSNBC on cable and online with the satellite transponder that this show occupied, effectively ending the life of the network

  • Ailes then left for Fox News

E. Jean Carroll

• hosted call-in advice show “Ask _ ____” on America’s Talking

• American journalist, author, and advice columnist

• accused Trump of sexual assault & then sued him for defamation and battery in NY Supreme Court => jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse against Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages

Sean Hannity

• a conservative radio and television host

• one of the original primetime hosts on the Fox News Channel, where he has appeared since 1996

  • host of several popular Fox programs

• has become the highest-paid news anchor on television

• an early and vocal supporter of fellow New Yorker Trump’s 2016 campaign for pres

  • Trump made several appearances on Hannity’s program

  • Trump officials also became frequent guests

Andrea Mackris

• associate producer for “The O’Reilly Factor”

• lawsuit against Bill O’Reilly for unwanted sexual advanced => created substantial reputational damages to both O'Reilly and also Fox News, inevitably causing a multi-million-dollar negotiation for Mackris

  • kept low-profile after this (non-disclosure agreement)

Gretchen Carlson

• American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality

• host of Fox News's morning show Fox & Friends & The Real Story with [Her Full Name]

• Carlson filed a lawsuit against then Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes claiming sexual harassment

  • Then, dozens of other women also stepped forward to accuse Ailes of harassment => Ailes resigned under pressure

  • settled the lawsuit reportedly for $20 million and she received a public apology.

    • she was one of the first high publicity cases of 2016's #MeToo movement.

Megyn Kelly

• American conservative journalist and media personality

• co-hosted America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer, hosted America Live & The [Her First Name] File  on Fox News

• left Fox News for NBC News

Bo Dietl

• American retired NYPD police detective, a media personality and actor

• had allegedly done private investigative work for ousted chairman Roger Ailes

• appears regularly on Fox News Channel shows, including Hannity and Geraldo at Large

Sean Spicer

• Trump’s 1st press secretary

• said Trump’s inauguration was the most well-attended in history (a provable falsehood)

  • he’s controversial b/c he made a number of public statements that were controversial and false (like the one above - his first)

• former American political aide

• served as White House Communications Director under President Trump in 2017

• was communications director of the Republican National Committee

yellow journalism

• sensationalized journalism

• “if it bleeds, it leads”

• designed to get readers/viewers w/ scandal + corruption

• late 1800s = 2 main journals competing for readership w/ this tactic:

  • Joseph Pulitzer’s N.Y. World

  • William Randolph Hearst’s N.Y. Journal

    • credited w/ inspiring Spn-Am War

New York World

• newspaper published by Joseph Pulitzer, late 1800s

• used yellow journalism

New York Journal

• newspaper published by William Randolph Hearst, late 1800s

• credited w/ inspiring Spn-Am War

  • Hearst sent an artist to go to Cuba & make pictures showing what was happening at the time => artist said not much happening => Hearst told him to “please remain…you furnish the pictures, I furnish the war”

    • aroused public sentiment against Spain

New York Times

• published by Adolph Ochs

• did NOT practice yellow journalism b/c higher journalistic ethics

• less circulation during late 1800s, but v popular now

Dominion v. Fox News

• Dominion manufactures voting machines

  • w/ zero evidence, Fox News claimed that Dominion’s voting machines were used in 2020 elections to switch votes from Trump to Biden (internal mechanism) => Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion (defamation)

• Dominion had to prove BOTH that Fox News said that false, defamatory thing & find proof that they said it w/ “actual malice” (knew they were telling a lie/had reckless disregard for truth of statement)

  • Dominion got Fox News emails saying they knew it was a lie

• in the end, Dominion decided to settle

• Fox News lied b/c feared losing viewers to NewsMax (conservative competition, even more right-wing), so wanted to give consumers what they wanted to hear, not what was true

  • it’s easier + cheaper to make a report using emotion + binary logic than to make one using logic + reason + the facts + in-depth review

    • this is why conservative news spreads faster

public opinion

• the views of the citizenry about politics, public issues, + public policies

• a complex collection of opinions held by many ppl on issues in the public arena

• political leaders are NOT ALWAYS (only sometimes) guiders of this

political socialization

• the learning process thru which most ppl acquire their political attitudes, opinions, beliefs, + knowledge

  • most is informal

  • ex: strong, early family influence

  • ex: schools, churches, media, opinion leaders, major life events, peer groups, econ status, + jobs

• agents of this are ppl + institutions that influence the political views of others

public opinion poll

• a survey of the public’s opinion on a particular topic at a particular moment

  • measured thru samples

  • fundamentally statistical

  • cannot reflect rapid shifts in public opinion unless they are taken frequently

straw poll

• a nonscientific poll in which there’s no way to ensure that the opinions expressed are representative of the larger population

  • early polling relied on this

• they ask a large # of ppl the same question

  • but opinions expressed usually rep an atypical subgroup of pop

sample

• a group of ppl selected to represent the population being studied

biased sample

• a poll sample (group ppl selected) that doesn’t accurately represent the population

  • an atypical subgroup of the pop

random sample

• a sample (selected group of ppl) in which each person w/in the entire population being polled has an equal chance of being chosen

  • will be rep of the pop as a whole

sampling error

• the difference b/t what the sample results show and what the true results would have been had everybody in the relevant pop been interviewed

exit poll

• a poll of people leaving a polling place, asking how they voted

  • usually used for predicting the winners of an election

• can't reach people who voted by postal ballot or another form of absentee voting, they may be biased towards certain demographics and miss swings that only occur among absentee voters

push poll

• a campaign tactic used to feed false or misleading info to potential voters, under the guise of taking an opinion poll, w/ the intent to “----” voters away from one candidate & toward another

  • use leading questions (the question itself suggests the answer => biased)

  • asking if whatever allegation would change your vote (plant a seed of negativity)

• invented by Lee Atwater

peer group

• associates, often close in age to one another

  • may incl friends, classmates, co-workers, club members, or relig group workers

  • are agents of political socialization

literacy test

• test given to voters to ensure they could read/write & thus evaluate poli info

  • a technique used in many southern states to elim AA participation in elections (denying AAs voting rights despite 1870 15th Amendment)

grandfather clause

• “if your grandpa voted, so can you”

• clause in a state law that had effect of restricting voting rights to those whose ancestors had voted before the 1860s

  • a technique used in the South to prevent AAs from exercising their right to vote

poll tax

• a fee of several dollars that had to be paid before a person could vote

  • technique used in some southern states to discourage AAs & low-income whites from voting

bandwagon effect

• instead of measuring public opinion, polls can end up creating it

  • pres approval ratings lend themselves to this

  • tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so

    • a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviors can alter due to particular actions and beliefs rallying amongst the public (if ppl say polls are up for this candidate, ppl will swing their vote that way to be on the “winning” side)

gender gap

• the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes

Solid South

• a term used to describe the tendency of the southern states to vote Democratic after the Civil War

  • lasted for a century after the Civil War

  • resulted from southern resentment of the Republicans for their role in the “War b/t the States” & their support of AAs in the post-war era

15th Amendment (1870)

• banned discrim based on race in voting

16th Amendment (1920)

• suffrage extended to women nationwide

  • this already existed in some states

26th Amendment (1971)

• minimum voting age reduced to 18

the Influentials

• ppl who are knowledgeable & whose opinions other ppl trust

  • ppl consider them authoritative

• political leaders are NOT ALWAYS (only sometimes) guiders of public opinion

• v. Social Media Influencers, whose job it is to promote products on social media

Sharia Law

• universal body of Islamic law which covers most aspects of daily life, incl diet, hygiene products, family law, ect

• post-9/11, public opinion demanded (and all but 16 states considered) leg that would ban using this in legal system w/in those states (TN passed law)

Astroturf

• fake grassroots movement (think fake grass)

  • a political/corporate special interest group disguises itself as a regular person

    • trying to trick ppl into thinking their political view is public opinion b/c there’s “widespread support” for it

      • big pharma good at this

  • a real grassroots movement starts from the group up; independent

Flat Earth Society

• these ppl truly believe that the earth is flat

  • & why do we believe things that aren’t true?

    • we don’t personally have enough info to justify what we believe (ex that the Earth revolves around the sun => we don’t know enough math to jusity) b/c we don’t have enough storage in our brains

      • by age 70, a person can only store 1 Gigabyte of date in their brain

      • THUS, we collaborate as a species

        • but that makes us, evolutionarily, easily manipulable

collaboration

• as a species we do this

• it is the secret to our evolutionary success BUT also how we are easily manipulated

  • principles of veracity + credulity tie into this

Likert Scale

• multiple choice poll questions where you can express a range of attitudes

  • “strongly agree, agree, not sure, disagree, strongly disagree” options for each question

Guttmann Scale

• multiple choice questions w/ a range of answers = “select the answer you agree with most completely”

  • ex: “I will look at a snake from a distance”…to…“I will own a snake as a pet”…to…”I will sleep with a snake in my bed with me” => circling middle one shows you also agree with all the lower-order, easier, less extreme items = shows limit

  • like pain scale measurement 0-10 (no pain to worst pain ever)

Principle of Veracity

• 1st identified by Thomas Reid in 1700s

• tendency of ppl to tell the truth most of the time b/c it’s easier

Principle of Credulity

• 1st identified by Thomas Reid in 1700s

• tendency of ppl to believe what they’re told

Joseph Goebbels

• Hitler’s propaganda minister (Nazi)

• “if you tell a lie for long enough, ppl will come to believe it”

interest group

• an organized group of indivs sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers

public interest group

• interest group formed w/ the broader goal of working for the “public good”

  • in reality, tho, all lobbying groups rep special interests

lobbying

• all of the attempts made by organizations/by indivs to influence the passage/defeat/contests of legislation or to influence the admin decisions of government

lobbyist

• an indiv who handles a particular interest group’s lobbying efforts

political action committee (PAC)

• a committee that’s est by a corporation/labor union/special interest group to raise funds & make campaign contributions on the establishing organization’s behalf

free rider problem

• the difficulty that exists when indivs can enjoy the outcome of an interest group’s efforts w/o having to contribute, such as by becoming members of the group

Pluralist Theory

• a theory that views politics as a contest among various interest groups - at all levels of government - to gain benefits for their members

  • influence of interest groups on gov is not undemocratic b/c indiv interests are indirectly represented in the policymaking process thru these groups

    • but, btw, many interest groups are largely funded/controlled by wealthy indivs

  • b/c lots of interest groups vying for poli benefits, no one group can dominate the poli process

“right to work” laws

• laws that ban unions from collecting dues/other fees from workers whom they represent but who have not actually joined the union

Iron Triangle

• comprises the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups

  • they often cooperate to further their own financial gains and interests

Elite Theory

• the belief that the government is controlled by one or more elite groups, typically drawn from the wealthiest members of society

  • btw, many interest groups are largely funded/controlled by wealthy indivs

National Rifle Association (NRA)

• used to be a safety org that taught ppl how to store, use, + keep firearms safely; wasn’t v political initially

• w/ 1960s assassinations came gun control

  • it transformed itself in 1977 = Hunters v. Guns Rights Activists => it became the org of 2nd Amendment (gun) Rights

• when Pres Reagan was shot on the lawn, ppl called for gun control

  • this org launched a full-scale lobbying effort

• when Pres Clinton put gun-control laws in place, this org thrived b/c antigun ppl became even more radical

• Columbine shooting revealed gun show loophole (buy guns w/o background checks)

  • 100s of 1000s of new members signed up & bought lots of guns b/c they were worried gov was going to take their guns away

• Clinton proposed a bill to close gun show loophole => VP Al Gore had to break tie in Senate with his vote => bill moved to Repub-controlled House where it fell 22 votes short of passing = this org won

• K Street is home to lots of interest groups & lobbying orgs

• Wayne LaPierre is the exec pres of this org

• this org’s members vote => important to Congressppl votes

• in the 2000 election b/t George W. Bush & Al Gore, this org spent $20 mil => W. Bush won

• Obama was a threat to this org b/c he was a gun control pres

• Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (aka Newtown shootings) = 20 kids, 6 adults killed

  • Obama’s Newtown bill fell 5 votes short

• Joe Manchin is a Dem who as an A rating from this org

  • then Manchin expanded background checks (over 91% supported it)

    • this org’s staff met w/ Manchin => Gun Owners of Am & other hard-core gun owners tell LaPierre not to compromise => this org stopped talking to Manchin

• Trump revived Obama’s Newtown bill as “Trump Common Sense Gun Bill” BUT THEN bends to this org

  • this org had spent $30 mil endorsing Trump’s campaign

• kids of Parkland started grassroots movement & Dems take House

• NY Attorney General Letitia James investigates this org

  • there are leaks from inside this org

• they argue that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, BUT racial bias = when good guy non-white, cops arrest good guy & bad guy gets away

Wayne LaPierre

• CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) since 1991

• American gun rights lobbyist

K Street

• a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., known as a center for numerous lobbyists and advocacy groups

Gabby Giffords

• Dem Congressional Representative from Arizona who was shot in Tucson in a mass shooting

James Brady

• press secretary for Ronald Reagan

• became a gun control advocate after having been shot & seriously wounded in an assassination attempt on Pres Reagan

• The [His Last Name] Bill, passed under the Clinton admin, requires background checks for gun purchases

Charlton Heston

• American actor and political activist

• A vocal supporter of gun rights, he served as president of the NRA from 1998 to 2003 (5 terms)

  • resigned when he learned he had Alzheimer’s

Gun Show Loophole

• aka the private sale exemption

• federal law does not require unlicensed private sellers to perform background checks on gun purchasers, so those sales are unregulated unless state law steps in to fill the gap

• legal exemption that allows private sellers, such as gun show attendees, to sell firearms without conducting background checks

Emma Gonzales

• American activist and advocate for gun control & a survivor of the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida

  • In the days following the shooting, she and other Stoneman Douglas students founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD

• first drew national attention after a speech she gave at a rally against gun violence, proclaiming "We call B.S." on the lack of action by politicians funded by the NRA

  • continued to advocate for gun control after that rally, making high-profile media appearances and helping organize the March for Our Lives, which became the largest student protest in American history.

    • In her speech at the demonstration, González mentioned each victim by name, followed by several minutes of silence – her 6 minute and 20 second speech equal to the length of time of the Parkland shooting.

Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado

• a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999

• perpetrators = twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

  • murdered twelve students and one teacher

• At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history, until it was surpassed by the Parkland high school shooting in February 2018

  • It is also the deadliest mass shooting in the state of Colorado

Gun Owners of America

• a gun rights organization in the United States

  • It makes efforts to differentiate itself from the larger National Rifle Association and has publicly criticized the NRA on multiple occasions for what it considers to be compromising on gun rights

    • more radical than NRA

  • one of the groups that told Wayne LaPierre not to compromise in his talks with Democrat Joe Manchin after Manchin expanded background checks

Al Gore

• American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton

• was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2000 presidential election

  • lost to George W. Bush b/c of the NRA endorsed W. Bush ($20 mil)

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

• org that lobbies for pro-business conservative things but claims they don’t lobby & that they don’t need to follow regulations

  • a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States

  • they refuse to participate in carbon neutralization

  • it taints the legislative process & avg Ams pay the price

Eric Cantor

• American lawyer and former politician who represented Virginia's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2014.

• Republican

• served as House Minority Whip from 2009 to 2011, and as House Majority Leader from 2011 to 2014

• defeated in June 10 primary => he wasn’t really working for the interests of Virginia’s 7th District

  • His constituency was the Republican leadership and the Republican establishment. That’s who he really answered to.

  • joined boutique investment bank Moelis & Co to a salary of $1.8m a year and the price of a Manhattan apartment

Revolving Door Syndrome

• situations in which a public official or employee leaves or sets aside their public position to represent their own, or other, private interests before the same government

• the movement of high-level employees from public-sector jobs to private-sector jobs and vice versa

  • many legislators and regulators become lobbyists and consultants for the industries they once regulated and some private industry heads or lobbyists receive government appointments that relate to their former private posts

civil liberties

• freedoms that we have b/c gov does nothing (doesn’t act = doesn’t restrict them)

  • ex: freedom of speech, assembly, press, to petition gov

  • ex: freedom of religion

    • Establishment Clause = gov won’t est state relig/won’t favor 1 relig over another

    • Free Exercise Clause = gov won’t limit how ppl practice (or don’t practice) their relig

  • ex: ACLU = Am ----- --------- Union = est to protect these

civil rights

• freedoms that we may need gov’s help to achieve

  • ex: Civil Rights Movement (late 1950s-1960s)

    • Black Lives Matter

  • ex: Voting Rights Acts

  • ex: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (“RIFRAS”) = initially passed b/c Native Ams tested pos for drug (used in spiritual practices) & were then fired from jobs

    • more recently, this has been used to justify relig discrim

      • Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 2014

        • Hobby Lobby = arts and crafts chain store owned by religious family

        • Obamacare (nat plan to extend healthcare insurance to more ppl) required employers to provide coverage for contraception to their employees => Hobby Lobby won under RIFRAS & didn’t have to provide that coverage

      • county clerk, Kim Davis, refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples b/c of her relig => gay ppl sued b/c Obergefell v. Hodges said yes same-sex marriage rights => deputy clerks given right to issue licenses instead of Kim Davis for same-sex couples

        • this is actually about Christian Privilege, not relig (“when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression”)

  • biologically speaking (genetically), race doesn’t exist = it’s a social construct that has to be learned/taught

writ of habeas corpus

• Art I, Sec 9

• an order that requires an official to bring a specified prisoner into court & explain to the judge why the person is being held in jail

  • if court finds imprisonment unlawful, it can order prisoner be released

• available to all citizens except in times of rebellion/national invasion

bill of attainder

• a leg act that inflicts punishment on particular persons or groups w/o granting them the right to a trial

  • prohibited in Constitution

ex post facto law

• a criminal law that punishes indivs for committing an act that was legal when the act was committed

  • prohibited by Constitution

• “after the fact”

Bill of Rights

• the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution

• ratified by the states & became part of Constitution on Dec 15, 1791

• fns to protect rights of those in the minority against the will of those in the majority

Due Process

• this clause is the constitutional guarantee (from 5th & 14th Amendments) that the gov will not illegally/arbitrarily deprive a person of life, liberty, or property

• this of law is the requirement that the gov use fair, reasonable, and standard procedures whenever it takes any legal action against an indiv

Free Exercise Clause

• gov won’t limit how ppl practice (or don’t practice) their religion

  • part of freedom of religion

Establishment Clause

• gov won’t establish a state religion or favor one religion over another

  • part of freedom of religion

symbolic speech

• the expression of beliefs, opinions, or ideas through forms other than verbal speech or print

  • ex: picketing in a labor dispute

  • ex: wearing a black armband in protest of a gov policy

  • ex: burning the Am flag in protest