AP U.S. Government and Politics - Unit 5: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

First Article of the Constitution

legislative branch

Second Article of the Constitution

executive branch

Third Article of the Constitution

judicial branch

Fourth Article of the Constitution

states' rights

Fifth Article of the Constitution

how to make amendments

Sixth Article of the Constitution

supremacy clause

Seventh Article of the Constitution

signatures

Process of making amendments

needs 2/3 vote by both houses of Congress or a special convention to be proposed and 3/4 vote of state legislatures or special convention to be ratified

Civil Liberties

fundamental rights and freedoms protected from infringement by the government

Bill of Rights

ratified in 1791, the first ten amendments to the Constitution

First Amendment

5 freedoms: speech, press, religion, assembly, petition

First Amendment clauses

establishment clause and free exercise clause

Establishment clause

clause in the first amendment that says the government may not establish an official religion

Free exercise clause

a first amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Amish do not have to attend school after 8th grade, right to freedom of religion

Engel v. Vitale

banned formal prayer in schools, government could not make any religion the official religion

Free expression

freedom to express political beliefs and opinions; rights to free speech, press, petition, and assembly

Limitations to free expression

clear and present danger, prior restraint

Clear and present danger

legal standard that speech passing an immediate and serious threat to national security is not protected under the first amendment

Prior restraint

when the government censors or suppresses material before it's published

New York Times v. U.S.

protected the freedom of the press by allowing the New York Times to publish the "Pentagon Papers" despite the Justice Department's order to restrict it

Symbolic speech

use of images, signs, and symbols as forms of political expression

Limitations to freedom of speech

slander, libel, obscenity, and pornography are not protected by the first amendment; the government can also regulate the time, place, and manner of protected speech in protests

Slander

spoken lies

Libel

written lies

Why is it hard to sue for slander or libel?

the aggrieved party must show that the statements were made with the knowledge that they were untrue

How can the government regulate the time, place, and manner of protected speech in protests?

it can impose limits on the noise level of speech, cap the number of protesters who may occupy a given forum, bar early morning or late night protests, and require protesters to obtain a permit to protest on government ground

Fourteenth Amendment

made "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" citizens of the country, includes due process clause and equal protection clause

Selective incorporation

the piecemeal process through which the Supreme Court has affirmed that almost all of the protections in the Bill of Rights also apply to state governments

D.C. v. Heller (2008)

struck down a Washington DC ordinance that banned handguns, but didn't prevent all states from banning guns because D.C. isn't a state

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

struck down a handgun ban in Chicago, deemed that states can't restrict the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense

Rights of the accused are found in the _____, _____, _____, and ______ amendments.

4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th

Fourth Amendment

protects against unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant

Warrant

a legal paper, issued by a court, giving police permission to make an arrest, seizure, or search based on a probable cause

Probable cause

reasonable belief that a crime has been committed

Exclusionary rule

evidence obtained without a warrant is not admissible in court

Fifth Amendment

a constitutional amendment designed to protect the rights of persons accused of crimes, including protection against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and punishment without due process of law

Procedural due process in court

the court is required to follow established procedures

Grand jury

a group of citizens that decides whether there is sufficient evidence to accuse someone of a crime

Miranda rights

a list of rights that police in the United States must read to suspects in custody before questioning them

Sixth Amendment

A constitutional amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes, including the right to counsel, the right to confront and have witnesses, right to know why they were accused, and the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury

Gideon v. Wainwright significance

a person who cannot afford an attorney may have one appointed by the government

Eighth Amendment

prohibits excessive bail and cruel or unusual punishment

Bail

a sum of money used as a security deposit to ensure that an accused person returns for his or her trial

Civil rights

the government's protection of individuals from discrimination as members of particular groups

Civil Rights Amendments

13th, 14th, and 15th amendments

Thirteenth Amendment

abolished slavery

Fifteenth Amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans and prohibited states from discriminating in voting based on race

Two types of segregation

de jure segregation and de facto segregation

De jure segregation

legal segregation, difficult to change but only requires the changing of laws

De facto segregation

segregation in culture, much harder to change than de jure because it requires changing people's minds

Jim Crow Laws

laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

Civil disobedience

a form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral

Claudette Calvin

At 15 years old, she was the first African American to refuse to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, leading Rosa Parks to do the same

Montgomery bus boycott

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal

Freedom Riders

group of civil rights workers who took bus trips through southern states in 1961 to protest illegal bus segregation

Greensboro Sit-Ins

black students politely ordered food from a restaurant, but were not served, so they sat in that place for days, gathering supporters who did the same

Martin Luther King, Jr.

leader of the civil rights movement

Civil Rights Act of 1964

this act made racial, religious, and gender discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage, particularly literacy tests

A Call for Unity

a letter published by eight white clergymen condemning outside agitation and direct action, while arguing that those seeking change should use the courts

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. while in jail to defend his tactics and timing that were criticized by a group of white clergy as being an ill-timed threat to law and order by an "outsider".

Affirmative Action

a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities

Supreme Court standards for decisions on discrimination

strict scrutiny, rational based standard, and intermediate scrutiny

Strict scrutiny

a Supreme Court test to see if a law shows a "compelling interest" to justify unequal treatment, such as Affirmative Action

Rational based standard

differential treatment must be shown to be reasonable and not arbitrary, like how air traffic controllers have to retire by age 56

Intermediate scrutiny

an intermediate standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is constitutional if it advances "an important government objective" and is "substantially related" to the objective, like how only men register for the draft at 18

First Wave of the Women's Rights Movement

focused on the right to vote

Second Wave of the Women's Rights Movement

focused on equality in schools and the workplace

19th Amendment

gave women the right to vote

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

bans employment discrimination based on identity - gender, race, ethnicity, etc.

Title IX of Education Act of 1972

forbids gender discrimination in federally subsidized education programs, including athletics

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law

U.S. v. Windsor

struck down key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, declaring that same-sex marriage will be recognized by the federal government but the states can regulate marriage as they wish

Obergefell v. Hodges

legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, calling the right to marriage a fundamental right