2025 American Government-Unit 3 Review

Civil Liberties

freedoms to think and act without government interference or fear of unfair legal treatment

1st Amendment

Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

Tinker v. Des Moines

Students have the right to symbolic speech at school as long as it is not disruptive

Veronia School District v. Acton

school athletes give up some privacy rights and can be arbitrarily tested for drugs

Morse v. Frederick

schools can prohibit students from displaying messages that promote illegal drug use

Korematsu v. United States

A 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during World War II.

civil rights

Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.

hate speech

any communication that belittles a person or group on the basis of characteristics

Jurisdiction

the official power to make legal decisions and judgments.

Justices term length

life

Number of Supreme Court Justices

9

writ of certiorari

A formal writ used to bring a case before the Supreme Court.

Petitioner

a person who makes a formal application to a court for a writ, judicial action in a suit, etc.

respondent

Party that answers or responds to the case when brought before the Supreme Court

precedent

an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

"Fighting words" are not protected by the First Amendment

Terminiello v. Chicago

Arresting a speaker because of the violent reaction of listeners to his speech is an unconstitutional "heckler's veto"

Beauharnais v. Illinois

1952 SCOTUS opinion which upheld a statute criminalizing any publication that "portrays depravity, criminality, unchastity, or lack of virtue in any class or citizens of any race, color, creed or religion."

Brandenburg v. Ohio

Gov't can't punish or prohibit inflammatory speech unless it is likely to incite imminent lawless action.

NSP v Skokie

Towns cannot ban protest just because they are unpopular; symbols cannot be restricted because of meaning others attach to them

R.A.V. v. St. Paul

St. Paul prohibited certain hateful, bias-motivated symbolic actions, such as cross burning. The Court struck down the law as content-discriminatory, since it only regulated speech aimed at certain audiences.

Snyder v. Phelps

First amendment protects speech even if it causes intentional emotional distress.

Wisconsin v. Mitchell

court upheld statute providing for higher penalties if a criminal selects a victim because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation. (speech cannot be punished because of a bias, but crimes that do not involve speech are more severely punished if they are motivated by a bias)

Virginia v. Black

The Court ruled that cross burning, due to its historical ties to racial fear and intimidation, is not protected speech.

privacy

the right of people not to reveal information about themselves

surveillance

supervision or close observation, especially of a suspected person

wiretap

A listening device used to intercept telephone information

Roving Wiretaps

taps specific to no single phone or computer but designed to be applied to every phone or computer that the target of the investigation may use

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The arm of the US Justice Department that investigates violations of federal law, seeks to protect America from terrorist attacks, gathers crime statistics, runs a comprehensive crime laboratory, and helps train local law enforcement officers.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

A U.S. agency created to gather secret information about foreign governments.

US Patriot Act

A U.S. federal act that broadens the surveillance of law enforcement agencies to enhance the detection and suppression of terrorism

Department of Homeland Security

US federal agency created in 2002 to coordinate national efforts against terrorism

Edward Snowden

American computer specialist who worked for NSA contractors and said that he was an employee of the CIA and NSA before leaking details of several top-secret United States and British government mass surveillance programs to the press.

artificial intelligence

Type of software that can process information on its own without human intervention.

public discourse

speech involving issues of importance to the larger community

Libel

A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.

Misinformation

Untrue or wrong information