AP Gov Vocab #5

exclusionary rule

a requirement that any evidence found during an illegal search or seizure cannot be used to try someone for a crime.

civil liberties

the rights of citizens to be free from undue government interference in their lives, including those rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and those established by long legal precedent (such as the right to marry or travel freely)

civil rights

The rights of citizens to be free of unequal or discriminatory treatment on the basis of race, gender, or membership in a particular demographic group

5th Amendment

rights in criminal cases, including due process and protection from self-incrimination; no person can be tried for a serious crime without the indictment of a grand jury

6th Amendment

right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, to an attorney, and to confront witnesses

10th Amendment

all powers not given to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to states or to the people

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Iowa teenagers Mary Beth Tinker, her brother John, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from their public high school for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. In the resulting case, the supreme court ruled that the armbands were a form of symbolic speech, which is protected by the first amendment, and therefore the school had violated the students first amendment rights

Schenck v. U.S. (1919)

during world war I, socialist antiwar activists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer mailed 15,000 fliers urging men to resist the military draft. they were arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917, which banned interference with military operations or supporting U.S. enemies during wartime. the resulting supreme court case concerned whether the Espionage Act violated freedom of speech. the court upheld the Espionage Act, ruling that the speech creating a “clear and present danger” was not protected by the first amendment.

symbolic speech

nonverbal forms of speech protected by the first amendment, such as picketing, wearing armbands, displaying signs, or engaging in acts of symbolic protest such as flag burning

defamation

the act of damaging someone’s reputation by making false statements. when through a printed medium, its called libel, and when spoken its called slander.

time, place, and manner restrictions

limits to freedom of expression based on when, where, and how individuals or organizations express opinions. for example, a city may require an organization to obtain a permit in order to conduct a public protest

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

a supreme court case concerning the mandatory schooling of three Amish students. the state of Wisconsin fined the students families for refusing to send them to school after the eighth grade; the Amish families argued that higher education conflicted with the free exercise of their religious beliefs. the court ruled in their favor, holding that the first amendments protection for free exercise of religion outweighed the states interests in compelling Amish students to attend school past the eight grade

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

a case contesting a New York state law requiring school children to recite a nondenominational prayer each morning (although children could choose not to participate). a group of parents sued the state arguing that the law was a violation of the establishment clause; the supreme court ruled in their favor, judging that New York state was giving unconstitutional government support to religion by providing the prayer.

due process

the legal requirement that an individuals rights must be respected by a state government; protected at the federal level by the fifth amendment, and at the state level by the fourteenth

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

the first case in which the second amendment right to “keep and bear arms” was incorporated to the states. the city of Chicago passed a handgun ban in 1982; Chicago resident Otis McDonald filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in 2008 on the basis that he needed a handgun for self-defense. the court declared the handgun ban unconstitutional by a 5-4 majority, ruling that the second amendment right to bear arms for self defense is fundamental, and therefore incorporated to the states through the fourteenth amendments due process clause

prior restraint

government censorship of free expression by preventing publication or speech before it takes place

selective incorporation

a judicial doctrine applying some protections of the bill of rights to the states, based on the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

a supreme court ruling that guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent

free exercise clause

the second clause of the first amendment, which prevents the federal government from interfering with its citizens religious beliefs and practices. the supreme court has upheld some limits on religious practices that conflict with secular laws, such as religious drug use or polygamy

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

in 1971, the united states government attempted to restrain the New York times and the Washington post form publishing excerpts from the pentagon papers, a top-secret history of U.S. military action in Vietnam, based on national security concerns. in the resulting case, the supreme court ruled that the governments attempt to bar publication for the press, and that publishing a history for the war did not pose an immediate national security threat to American military forces.

right to speedy & public trial

protects a defendant from having a long delay between being arrested and facing trial; protected under the sixth amendment

right to privacy

the right to “be left alone”, or to be free of government scrutiny into ones private beliefs and behavior 

rule of law

the principle that government is based on a body of law applied equally and fairly to every citizens, not on the whims of those in charge, and that no one is above the law— including the government.