Chapter 6: The Constitution Study Notes

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards based on the Chapter 6 constitutional law study notes, covering government structure, the commerce clause, and individual rights.

U.S. Constitution

The legal framework of the federal government drafted in $1787$ as an alternative to the Articles of Confederation.

Article I

The section of the Constitution that contains the commerce clause and gives the federal government power to regulate business.

Article IV

Provides a framework for citizenship and commercial activities and contains the full faith and credit and privileges and immunities clauses.

Article V

Establishes the process for amending the Constitution, requiring ratification by $38$ states.

Article VI

Makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land and gives federal law priority over conflicting state or local law.

Article VII

Provided that the Constitution would become effective upon ratification, which occurred in $1789$.

Bill of Rights

The first $10$ amendments ratified in $1791$ that provide statements of individual freedoms and protections from government action.

$13\text{th}$ Amendment

The amendment that abolished slavery.

$14\text{th}$ Amendment

Protects citizens against state actions and contains privileges and immunities, due process, and equal protection clauses.

$16\text{th}$ Amendment

The amendment that authorizes the federal income tax.

Federalism

The separation of powers between the federal government and state or local governments.

Supremacy clause

An Article VI concept making the Constitution supreme over all laws and federal law supreme over conflicting state laws.

Preemption

A process occurring when federal law occupies an area of law so that state regulation is unconstitutional under the supremacy clause.

Commerce clause

Article I, Section $8$, which gives Congress power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes.

Gibbons v. Ogden

The case that established that states cannot impede interstate commerce.

Contract clause

Article I, Section $10$, which provides that no state shall pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts.

Police powers

The authority of state and local governments to enact laws protecting the public’s health, safety, morals, and general welfare.

Dormant commerce clause concept

Constitutional limitations on state regulation even when Congress has not enacted legislation on a subject.

Irreconcilable conflicts

Conflicts in which it is impossible for a business to comply with both federal and state law, such as differing minimum wages where the higher burden must be met.

Establishment clause

The First Amendment provision prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion.

Free exercise clause

The First Amendment provision prohibiting the government from preventing the practice of religion.

Symbolic speech

Conduct or actions that communicate an idea and may receive protection under the First Amendment.

Obscenity

A category of expression not protected by the First Amendment, evaluated based on community standards and literary or scientific value.

Commercial speech

Expression related to the economic interests of the speaker and audience, such as advertising, which receives less protection than noncommercial speech.

Overbreadth doctrine

A principle stating a law is unconstitutional if it sweeps too broadly and restricts protected expression along with unprotected expression.

Prior restraints

Government restrictions that prevent publication before it occurs, generally prohibited by freedom of the press.

Eminent domain

The government’s power to take private property for public use upon payment of just compensation, derived from the $5\text{th}$ amendment.

Due process of law

A requirement of fundamental fairness and decency, preventing the government from acting in an arbitrary or unreasonable manner.

Incorporation doctrine

The use of the $14\text{th}$ Amendment’s due process clause to make most Bill of Rights protections applicable to state and local governments.

Equal protection clause

The $14\text{th}$ Amendment principle that law should not treat people differently without a satisfactory reason.

Strict scrutiny

The level of scrutiny applied to suspect classifications like race, requiring the law be necessary to a compelling state interest.