Civil rights

Civil Rights

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

Civil Liberties

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

Fundamental Liberties

Freedoms from government that are so essential that all governments must follow them.

Majority-Minority Districts

Drawing district boundaries to give a minority group a majority in order to elect a minority representative.

Metadata Collection

A set of data that gives information about other data, for example, saved cell phone contacts for future investigations.

Establishment Clause

Clause in the First Amendment that prohibits the government from establishing an official religion.

Free Exercise Clause

The First Amendment guarantee that citizens may freely engage in the religious activities of their choice.

Lemon Test

A three-part test for Establishment Clause cases; it must have a secular purpose, must not advance or inhibit religion, and must not cause excessive entanglement with religion.

Separation of Church & State

The situation where the government may not favor any religion or establish an official religion, referring to the 1st Amendment's Establishment Clause.

Clear & Present Danger Doctrine

Established in Schenck v United States (1919), it allows government to censor free speech during national emergencies if it can prove the speech will significantly hurt national security.

Symbolic Speech

Nonverbal communication such as burning a flag or wearing an armband, which the Supreme Court has granted some protection under the First Amendment.

Obscenity

Any work that appeals to a prurient interest in sex and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Prior Restraint

Government censorship of information before it is published or broadcast.

Slander

The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Libel

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

Incitement Speech

Speech directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and is likely to incite or produce such action.

Exclusionary Rule

A law that prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring jailers to explain to a judge why they are holding a prisoner in custody.

Time-Place-Manner Doctrine

Laws that regulate the time, place, or manner of speech, that are much more likely to be struck down if they are not content-neutral.

Affirmative Action

Procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination and establish equity among applicants.

Strict Scrutiny

A heightened standard of review for assessing the constitutional validity of challenged practices, applies mostly to race, religion, and handicap.

Separate but Equal Doctrine

The doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that African Americans could be kept in separate but equal facilities.

NOW

National Organization of Women, founded in 1966, aimed to enforce equal employment opportunity.

Pro-Life Movement

A movement whose followers believe that abortion is murder and should not be conducted under any circumstances.

Right to Privacy

The right to be left alone, interpreted by the Supreme Court to include access to birth control and abortions.

Selective Incorporation

The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are applied to state and local governments one liberty at a time.

Due Process Clauses

Amendments 5 and 14, that require the government to follow necessary steps to deny a person life, liberty, and property.

Procedural Due Process

Constitutional requirement dictating that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how governments may exercise power.

Substantive Due Process

Constitutional requirement that laws must be fair and reasonable; limits what a government may do.

Equal Protection Clause

A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment forbidding states from denying any person equal protection of the laws.

De Jure Segregation

Segregation by law.

De Facto Segregation

Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Legislation passed in 1990 prohibiting discrimination against disabled persons in various areas.

Title IX of Education Act of 1972

Forbids gender discrimination in federally subsidized education programs.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A federal law designed to protect minorities' voting rights, requiring Justice Department approval for changes to electoral procedures.