AP Gov Unit 3 (Civil Liberty and Rights)

Title IX (Education Act of 1972)

Legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal aid

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation outlawing literacy tests and authorizes the Justice Department to send federal officers to register voters in uncooperative places

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation outlawing racial segregation in schools and public places. Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Civil Disobedience

The intentional refusal to obey a law to call attention to its injustice

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to address the consequences of previous discrimination by providing special consideration to individuals based upon their characteristics, such as a race + gender

De Facto Segregation

A separation of individuals based on characteristics that arises not by law but other factors or social consequences of legal segregation

De Jure Segregation

The separation of individuals based on their characteristics, such as race by law

Legal Segregation

The separation by law of individuals based on their race

“Separate but Equal”

Doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson that states racial segregation was constitutional so long as the facilities for blacks and whites are equal

15th Amendment

Constitutional amendment that gave African Americans and other men the right to vote

Equal Protection Clause

A clause that require that states to treat all citizens alike with regards to application of the law

14th Amendment

Constitutional amendment asserting that people born in the US are citizens and prohibits states from denying people’s due process or equal protection under the law

Civil Rights

Protections from discrimination as a member of a particular grouo

Double Jeopardy

Protects an individual acquitted of a crime from being charged with the same crime again in the same jurisdiction

Grand Jury

A group of citizens, who based on the evidence presented to them, decide whether or not a person should be indicted and subsequently tried in a court of law

Exclusionary rule

A rule that evidence obtained without a a warrant is inadmissible in court

Probable Cause

Reasonable belief that a crime has been committed or that there is evidence indicating so

Warrant

A document issued by a judge authorizing a search

Procedural Due Process

A judicial standard requiring that fairness be applied to all individuals equally

Obscenity and Pornography

Words, images, or videos that depict sexual activity in an offensive manner and that lack artistic merit

Slander

An untrue spoken expression that injuries a person’s reputation

Libel

An untrue written statement that injuries a person’s reputation

Symbolic Speech

Protected expression in the form of images, signs, and other symbols

Clear and Present Danger Test

Legal Standard that speech posing an immediate and serious threat to national security is not protected by the 1st amendment

Prior Restraint

The suppression of material prior to publication on the grounds that it is harmful or might endanger national security

Freedom of Expression

A fundamental right affirmed in t he first amendment to speak, publish, and protest

Due Process Clause

The clause restricts state governments from denying the citizens their life, liberty, or property without legal safeguards

Civil Liberties

Fundamental rights and freedoms protected from the government for all American citizens