Jurisprudence, Civil Disobedience, and the US Judicial System

A 40-card vocabulary set covering jurisprudence, legal positivism, civil disobedience, the Chicano movement, Antigone, and Supreme Court judicial procedures.

Natural Law

A jurisprudence philosophy holding that what naturally is, ought to be, based on human natural reason to discern right from wrong, asserting that an unjust law is not a law.

Natural Rights

Individualistic rights distinct from natural laws of nature that every human is born with, which the state has a duty to recognize and protect through law.

Legal Positivism

A legal theory asserting that the law is what the law is, requiring written laws and proof passed by an official rather than deriving validity from morality or abstract concepts.

Austin's Law as Command

John Austin's formulation that law is the command of the sovereign backed by sanctions, without which a legal rule is merely a suggestion.

Bentham's "Nonsense on Stilts"

Jeremy Bentham's phrase critiquing natural rights as private opinion in disguise, written in critical reference to the Declaration of Independence.

Separation Thesis

The core legal positivist tenet that law and morality are separate; an immoral law remains valid, and a morally desirable principle does not automatically constitute law.

Hans Kelsen's Law as Norms

A positivist view treating law as intangible norms stripped of morality, psychology, and political theory, backed by state coercion and legitimate force.

Joseph Raz's Fact-Driven Law

The perspective that law is fact-driven and effective at maintaining social order while possessing the ability to adapt and change alongside society.

Utilitarianism

A goal-based consequentialist framework evaluating actions by their outcomes to determine whether the ends justify the means.

Utilitarian Calculus

A decision-making method designed to remove bias by evaluating costs, benefits, and levels of pain across all impacted individuals in public policy.

Rights as Trumps

The concept of invoking an individual right claim to overturn or halt democratically achieved outcomes and collective public policies.

"Domestic Dependent Nation" Status

A legal status established in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) defining tribes as separate from the state yet granting the state the power to decide what is good for them.

Doctrine of Discovery

A legal principle referenced in Johnson v. McIntosh (1837) establishing that whichever sovereign discovers land gains title to that land.

General Allotment Act 1887

A federal law that initiated a major relocation effort resulting in the relocation of 200,000 Native Americans.

Interpretive Reading

A three-step note-taking method consisting of skimming for the main argument, reading paragraphs line-by-line for context, and context mapping back to the main thesis.

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau's philosophy that individuals are obligated to actively resist government injustice, demonstrated by his 1846 refusal to pay taxes in opposition to slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Autonomy (Thoreau)

Thoreau's view that individuals must exercise independent thought and God-given conscience, acting as men first and subjects second when confronting state injustice.

Unjust Law (MLK Jr.)

A man-made code that degrades human personality, violates moral or natural law, or is imposed by a majority on a minority that the majority refuses to follow itself.

Just Law (MLK Jr.)

A man-made code that squares with moral law or natural law and uplifts human personality.

MLK Jr.'s 4 Basic Steps in Any Nonviolent Campaign

The sequential campaign process consisting of: (1) Collection of Facts, (2) Negotiation, (3) Self-Purification, and (4) Direct Action.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

The treaty signed on February 2nd, 1848, ending the Mexican-American War, transferring land to the U.S. while granting Mexicans land rights and citizenship options.

Sleepy Lagoon Murder

A Los Angeles case where 600 Hispanic people were arrested and 16 convicted without a weapon, whose convictions were later overturned due to insufficient evidence and judicial bias.

Young Chicanos for Community Action (YCCA)

An organization within the Chicano Movement that prioritized community autonomy and separation over assimilation.

School "Blowouts"

The 1968 walkouts organized by 20,000 East Los Angeles high school students to protest discriminatory LAUSD policies, leading to the arrest of the East L.A. 13.

Brown Berets' Three Stages of Pressure

The manifesto strategy comprising: (1) Communication with officials, (2) Shaming those in the wrong publicly, and (3) Alternatives by any and all means necessary.

Creon as Legal Positivist

The character in Sophocles' Antigone who embodies legal positivism by demanding absolute obedience to the ruler's command to preserve public order and avoid chaos.

Antigone & Higher Law

The philosophical stance in Antigone asserting that unwritten, everlasting divine laws supersede temporary written edicts issued by state rulers.

Ismene's Consequentialism

A utilitarian perspective in Antigone calculating whether defying state law is worth the cost of lost lives and severe punishment.

Refugee

An individual with a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, or political/social group membership who is unable or unwilling to seek their country's protection.

Refugee Act of 1980

Federal legislation that eliminated anti-communist requirements as the exclusive grounds for granting refugee status in the United States.

First Sanctuary Movement

An alliance of 150 church congregations that harbored Central American refugees in defiance of immigration policy, viewing the existing laws as immoral and illegitimate.

Judiciary Act of 1789

Legislation passed by Congress establishing the office of Chief Justice and associate justices, along with a tripartite federal court system of district, circuit, and Supreme courts.

Standing to Sue

The requirement that a party bringing a federal lawsuit must have suffered a real injury fairly traceable to the challenged law that can be redressed by judicial action.

Ripeness

The jurisdictional requirement that a legal issue must have exhausted all proper lower channels and fully matured before the Supreme Court will hear it.

Mootness

A condition where the dispute before the court has already been resolved or changed, making any judicial ruling purely hypothetical or academic.

Rule 10

The Supreme Court rule stating that the Court primarily grants review to resolve conflicts between federal circuits, conflicts between state and federal courts, or deviations from Supreme Court precedent.

Writ of Certiorari

A formal legal order issued by an appellate court commanding a lower court to deliver records, derived from the Latin phrase meaning to be more fully informed.

Rule of Four

An internal Supreme Court practice requiring an affirmative vote from at least four justices to grant a writ of certiorari and hear a case.

Attitudinal Model

A political science theory of judicial decision-making asserting that Supreme Court justices decide cases based directly on their personal attitudes, values, and political leanings.

Stare Decisis

A foundational common-law doctrine meaning the decision stands, requiring courts to follow established legal precedent to preserve consistency and institutional respect.