Chapter 4: Civil Liberties – Key Vocabulary

This set of vocabulary flashcards summarizes the key terms, clauses, amendments, and landmark cases discussed in the Chapter 4 lecture on Civil Liberties, helping students review foundational concepts before the exam.

Civil Liberties

Constitutional limits on government power meant to protect individual freedoms.

Civil Rights

Constitutional guarantees that government officials will treat people equally regardless of protected characteristics such as race, gender, or religion.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution (ratified 1791) that enumerate many fundamental civil liberties.

Article I, Section 9

Constitutional section that bars bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and unwarranted suspension of habeas corpus.

Bill of Attainder

A legislative act that punishes a person without a judicial trial; prohibited by the Constitution.

Ex Post Facto Law

A law that retroactively criminalizes actions; forbidden to Congress and the states.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Court order requiring government to justify a person’s detention; can only be suspended in rebellion or invasion.

Incorporation

Judicial process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Due Process Clause (14th Amendment)

Provision stating that no state may deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; key to incorporation.

Establishment Clause

First Amendment clause prohibiting government from creating an official religion or favoring one faith over another.

Free Exercise Clause

First Amendment clause protecting individuals’ rights to practice religion without government interference.

Free Speech Clause

First Amendment protection against government restrictions on most spoken, written, or symbolic expression.

Free Press Clause

First Amendment protection preventing government from limiting the publication or dissemination of information.

Free Assembly Clause

First Amendment protection of the right to gather peacefully for demonstrations, protests, or meetings.

Right to Petition Clause

First Amendment guarantee allowing individuals or groups to address the government to seek remedies or policy changes.

Freedom of Expression

Collective term for speech, press, assembly, and petition rights protected by the First Amendment.

Second Amendment

Amendment stating the right of the people to keep and bear arms, interpreted in 2008 as an individual right for lawful purposes such as self-defense.

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

Supreme Court case recognizing an individual’s right to possess firearms unconnected with militia service for lawful uses.

Third Amendment

Amendment forbidding peacetime quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner’s consent.

Fourth Amendment

Amendment protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures and setting warrant requirements based on probable cause.

Probable Cause

Reasonable grounds for believing a crime has been committed, required for issuance of a warrant.

Exigent Circumstances

Situations allowing warrantless searches when evidence may be destroyed or public safety threatened if delayed.

No-Knock Warrant

Judicial authorization allowing police to enter without announcing, justified by risk of evidence destruction or danger.

Fifth Amendment

Amendment providing grand-jury indictment, double-jeopardy protection, self-incrimination privilege, due process, and just compensation for takings.

Double Jeopardy

Being prosecuted twice for the same offense in criminal court; barred by the Fifth Amendment.

Self-Incrimination

Compelling a person to testify against themselves in criminal proceedings; prohibited by the Fifth Amendment.

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Case requiring police to inform suspects of their rights against self-incrimination and to counsel during custodial interrogation.

Eminent Domain

Government power to take private property for public use with just compensation, limited by the Fifth Amendment.

Sixth Amendment

Amendment guaranteeing a speedy and public trial, impartial jury, notice of charges, confrontation and compulsory process of witnesses, and assistance of counsel.

Speedy Trial

Sixth Amendment right ensuring criminal defendants are tried without unnecessary delay.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Supreme Court decision requiring states to provide counsel to indigent defendants in felony cases.

Seventh Amendment

Amendment preserving the right to a jury trial in most civil lawsuits.

Eighth Amendment

Amendment barring excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Punishment considered inhumane or disproportionate, prohibited by the Eighth Amendment; central to death-penalty debates.

Ninth Amendment

Amendment stating that listing certain rights in the Constitution does not deny others retained by the people.

Tenth Amendment

Amendment reserving powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people.

Right to Privacy (Implied)

Judicially recognized individual right inferred from several amendments, first affirmed in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965).

Ex parte Quirin (1942)

Case upholding military commissions’ jurisdiction over unlawful enemy combatants captured in the United States.

Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)

Supreme Court ruling favoring a baker’s religious freedom in refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Federal case where a church successfully challenged Washington, DC’s pandemic gathering limits on religious freedom grounds.