AP US Government & Politics Unit 3 Vocabulary

Affirmative action

Institutional efforts to diversify by race, gender, and otherwise.

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

1993 law requiring background checks for gun purchases.

Breathing space

allows published information to have unintended inaccuracies without being sued for libel.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 case declaring racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.

Civil liberties

Constitutionally guaranteed personal freedoms protected from arbitrary governmental interference

Clear and present danger

Standard for limiting speech posing immediate threat.

Defense of Marriage Act

Allowed states to decide on same

Don't ask, don't tell

Sexuality could not be asked about, nor discussed by service members.

Due process

Ensures that fair and legitimate legal processes take place before life, liberty, or property can be taken (14th).

Eighth Amendment

Protects against cruel & unusual punishment and excessive fines.

Engel v. Vitale

1962 case ruling school

Equal Pay Act

Made it so that women and men earned the same wage for the same job.

Equal protection clause

Constitutional guarantee against discrimination by the state.

Equal Rights Amendment

Proposed amendment ensuring equal rights regardless of sex.

Establishment clause

Prohibits government from establishing a religion.

Fifteenth Amendment

Prohibits voting discrimination based on race.

Fifth Amendment

Guarantees rights related to legal proceedings.

Fourteenth Amendment

Grants citizenship and equal protection under the law.

Fourth Amendment

Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Gideon v. Wainwright

1963 case guaranteeing right to counsel.

Jim Crow Laws

State laws enforcing racial segregation in the South.

King Jr., Martin Luther

Civil rights leader advocating nonviolent protest.

Lemon v. Kurtzman

1971 case establishing test for government aid to religion.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr.'s defense of civil disobedience.

McDonald v. Chicago

2010 case affirming Second Amendment applies to states.

Miranda v. Arizona

1966 case requiring Miranda rights upon arrest.

New York Times Co. v. United States

1971 case protecting press from prior restraint.

Nineteenth Amendment

Granted women the right to vote in 1920.

Obergefell v. Hodges

2015 case legalizing same

Obscene speech

Speech not protected by the First Amendment.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 case upholding 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Prior restraint

Government action preventing publication before it occurs.

Procedural due process

Ensures fair legal procedures are followed.

Regents of the University of California v Bakke

1978 case addressing affirmative action in college admissions.

Right to privacy

Implied right protecting personal privacy from government intrusion.

Roe v. Wade

1973 case legalizing abortion rights.

Schenck v. United States

1919 case limiting speech during wartime.

Second Amendment

Protects the right to keep and bear arms.

Selective incorporation

Process applying Bill of Rights to states.

Separate but equal

Doctrine permitting racial segregation if equal facilities provided.

Sixth Amendment

Guarantees rights to a fair trial.

Substantive due process

Protects certain rights from government interference.

Symbolic speech

Nonverbal communication protected by the First Amendment.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

1969 case protecting student free speech rights.

Title IX

Prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education.

Twenty

fourth Amendment

Wall of separation

Concept separating church and state.

White flight

Migration of white populations from racially integrated areas.

White primary

Primary elections restricted to white voters.

Wisconsin v. Yoder

1972 case protecting Amish children's education rights.