American Politics Today Bianco Canon Unit V Key Terms

Civil rights

Rates that guarantee individuals freedom from discrimination. These rates are generally grounded in the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and more specifically laid out in laws passed by Congress such as the 1964 civil rights act.

Civil rights act of 1964

Federal law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations in gaged in interstate commerce; and discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; encouraged the desegregation of public schools, and struck down unequal application of voter registration requirements.

Clear and present danger doctrine

Established in Schenck v. United States, this test allow the government to restrict certain types of speech deemed dangerous.

De facto segregation

Relating to actions are circumstances that occurred outside the law or "by fact", such as the segregation of schools that resulted from housing patterns and other factors rather than from laws.

De jure segregation

Relating to actions or circumstances that occur "by law", such as the legally enforced segregation of schools in the American south before the 1960s.

Due process clause

14th amendment clause stating that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

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.

Grandfather clause

What type of law enacted in several southern states to allow those who are permitted to vote before the Civil War, and their descendants, to bypass literacy tests and other obstacles to voting, thereby exempting whites from these tests for continuing to disenfranchise African-Americans and other people of color.

Indictment

the act of accusing; a formal accusation

Separate but equal doctrine

The idea that racial segregation was except a bowl as long as the separate facilities were equal of quality; supported by Plessy v. Ferguson and struck down by Brown v. Board of Education.

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972

A federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federal he funded education program or activity. One of the most visible effects of the law was to equalize the inter-collegiate sports by creating more opportunities for women and eliminating some men's teams in order to achieve parity.

Voting rights act of 1965

A federal law that banned racialDiscrimination in voting. The law provided for federal election examiners to enforce the law, covered certain jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to stop illegal voting practices before they were put in place, and prohibited any jurisdiction from acquiring a person to comply with any "test or device" to register to vote or cast a ballot