AP Gov unit 3

Civil liberties

Civil liberties

Fundamental rights and freedoms protected from government interference, primarily found in the Bill of Rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and privacy.

Civil Rights

Protections from discrimination based on characteristics like race, gender, or disability, often focused on equality and ensuring fair treatment under the law.

Establishment Clause

Part of the First Amendment that prohibits the government from establishing a national religion or favoring one religion over another.

Free Exercise Clause

Also in the First Amendment, it guarantees individuals the right to practice their religion freely, without government interference.

Symbolic Speech

Nonverbal communication, such as gestures, actions, or symbols, that convey a message, protected under the First Amendment.

Limits to speech

Restrictions placed on speech that is harmful, such as incitement to violence, obscenity, or speech that presents a clear and present danger.

Clear and Present Danger

A legal standard determining when speech is unprotected by the First Amendment because it poses a significant risk to public safety or national security.

Prior Restraint

Government action that prohibits speech or other expression before it takes place, often seen as a violation of the First Amendment.

Cruel and Unusual Punishments

Prohibition under the Eighth Amendment that protects against excessive or barbaric punishment, like torture or overly harsh sentences.

Individual Liberties and Arms

The right to own and bear arms, primarily found in the Second Amendment, with debates about its scope and limitations.

Digital Metadata Gathering

The collection of data related to communication (e.g., call records, emails) by government agencies, raising privacy and Fourth Amendment concerns.

Selective Incorporation

The process by which the U.S. Supreme Court has applied most of the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses.

Due Process Rights

Constitutional guarantees found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments ensuring fair legal proceedings before the government deprives a person of life, liberty, or property.

Public Safety exceptions

Legal doctrines that allow certain actions to be taken, such as limiting rights, when public safety is at significant risk, like during emergencies.

Right to Counsel

The Sixth Amendment guarantee that a defendant has the right to legal representation during criminal proceedings.

Warrants and searches

Protections under the Fourth Amendment requiring law enforcement to obtain a warrant before conducting most searches and seizures.

Limits on Bulk Data Collection

Restrictions on large-scale data collection programs by the government, often balancing national security interests with individual privacy rights.

Exclusionary Rules

A legal principle that bars the use of evidence obtained in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights, especially the Fourth Amendment.

Rights to Privacy

Though not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, this concept has been inferred from various amendments, protecting personal autonomy in areas such as reproductive rights and personal information.

Discrimination Limits

Legal limits on discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or other characteristics, often derived from the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, public accommodations, and education.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law designed to eliminate barriers to voting, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, particularly for African Americans in the South.

Title IX Of 1972

A federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs or activities, including sports.

End of segregation

The dismantling of the legal and social systems that enforced racial segregation, notably in public schools, after cases like Brown v. Board of Education.

Affirmative Actions Goals

Policies and initiatives designed to improve opportunities for historically marginalized groups, particularly in education and employment.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Issue: Whether government-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

• Ruling: The Court ruled that official recitation of prayers in public schools is unconstitutional, as it violates the Establishment Clause by promoting religion.

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

• Issue: Whether Wisconsin’s compulsory education law violates the Free Exercise Clause by requiring Amish children to attend school past the eighth grade.

• Ruling: The Court held that the state’s interest in education was outweighed by the Amish parents’ right to freely exercise their religion, allowing Amish children to end formal schooling after eighth grade.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

• Issue: Whether students wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War is protected symbolic speech under the First Amendment.

• Ruling: The Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that symbolic speech, like wearing armbands, is protected by the First Amendment as long as it does not disrupt the educational environment.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

• Issue: Whether distributing anti-draft pamphlets during World War I is protected by the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee.

• Ruling: The Court upheld Schenck’s conviction, introducing the “clear and present danger” test, ruling that speech can be restricted if it poses a clear and present danger to national security or public safety.

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• Issue: Whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to state and local governments via the Fourteenth Amendment.

• Ruling: The Court held that the right to keep and bear arms is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states, striking down Chicago’s handgun ban.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

• Issue: Whether the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel applies to state courts, requiring states to provide an attorney to defendants who cannot afford one.

• Ruling: The Court unanimously ruled that states must provide an attorney to defendants in criminal cases if they cannot afford one, as part of the right to a fair trial.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Issue: Whether racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

• Ruling: The Court unanimously declared that “separate but equal” educational facilities are inherently unequal and unconstitutional, ending legal segregation in public schools.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Issue: Whether state laws banning abortion violate a woman’s constitutional right to privacy.

• Ruling: The Court ruled that a woman’s right to privacy, derived from the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, encompasses the right to have an abortion. This case was later overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), and therefore will not be included in the exam, as noted.