American Government: Stories of a Nation (Presidential Election Update) - Chapter 8.1-8.4

civil liberties

fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens protected from infringement by the government

civil rights

protections from discrimination as a member of a particular group

Edward Snowden

A former NSA employee who violated the Espionage Act of 1917 by leaking classified government documents that exposed surveillance attempts on US citizens

Espionage Act of 1917

An act passed during World War I that makes it a felony to possess or distribute “any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense” that the possessor or distributor knows might pose a threat to the nation

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution - a list of fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals possess

due process clause

the clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that restricts state governments from denying citizens life, liberty, or property without legal safeguards

Gitlow v. New York

Gitlow was a left-wing communist newspaper publisher arrested for his radical publishings, which included a section calling for the destruction of capitalism; started selective incorporation

selective incorporation

the piecemeal process through which the Supreme Court affirmed that almost all of the protections in the Bill of Rights also apply to state governments; significance - used the due process clause to extend federal rights to state government cases

establishment clause

First Amendment protection against the government requiring citizens to join or support a religion

free exercise clause

First Amendment protection of the rights of individuals to exercise and express their religious beliefs

Engle v. Vitale

Does a school-sponsored prayer at a public New York high school violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment? According to SCOTUS, yes. Captive audience + government sponsored

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Supreme Court case about supplementing salaries of teachers at religiously affiliated private schools, as well as providing educational materials; struck down by the Court, and is the basis for the Lemon test

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Amish children taken out of school in violation of Wisconsin’s compulsory education law; Court sided with Yoder, saying that the families’ decisions did not affect other children and adhered to their religious beliefs

Schenck v. U.S.

Schenck publishes leaflets encouraging men to refuse the draft, and gets convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917; Court sides with the US, saying there was a “clear and present danger” from Schenck’s form of speech

clear and present danger test

legal standard that speech posing an immediate and serious threat to national security is not protected by the First Amendment

Brandenburg v. Ohio

A leader of the KKK was convicted for advocating for violence to overthrow the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court; Court overturned Brandenburg’s conviction. Significance - set criteria for political speech - disallowed political speech needs to be directing consumers towards inciting imminent lawless action and must be likely to produce that action

prior restraint

the suppression of material prior to publication on the grounds that it might endanger national security

New York Times Co. v. U.S.

Pentagon Papers case; Court sided with the newspapers because the government did not show “a sufficient interest to justify prior restraint” of press

symbolic speech

protected expression in form of images, signs, and other symbols

Tinker v. Des Moines

Students at a Des Moines school wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War and were suspended from school; Court ruled in favor of Tinker and other students, saying the symbolic speech would have had to interfere with the education of the school

libel

an untrue written statement that injures a person’s reputation

slander

an untrue spoken expression that injures a person’s reputation

New York Times v. Sullivan

An Alabama official sued the NYT for a full-page ad accusing Alabama officials of excessive force; Court ruled in favor of NYT because falsehoods are not enough to prove libel/slander

actual malice

Publishers of libel or slander knew that the statements were untrue but still published them; needs to be demonstrated to win a libel suit

obscenity

words, images, or videos that depict sexual activity in an offensive manner and that lack any artistic merit

Miller v. California

SCOTUS case that set three criteria for obscenity - “patently offensive”, “utterly without redeeming social value”, and still seems so after “contemporary community standards” have been applied

time, place and manner restrictions

Government can impose time, place, and manner restrictions on protected speech, but must be able to justify any restriction; must be narrow and cannot be based on the content of the speech

McDonald v. Chicago

Incorporated the 2nd Amendment, overturning a Chicago gun ownership ban

Types of government involvement with religion in public education that have been upheld vs. those struck down

Wisconsin v. Yoder (Amish kids, upheld) vs. Engle v. Vitale (school prayer, struck down)

Government limits on free exercise of religion that have been upheld vs. those struck down

Wisconsin v. Yoder (Amish kids, upheld) vs. Employment Division v. Smith (peyote use, struck down)