AP Gov chapter 8

Civil Liberties

Constitutionally established garuntees that protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals from unreasonable interference by the government.

Civil Rights

Protections for individuals from discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, sex, and other characteristics, ensuring equal treatment under the law.

Bill of rights

A list of fundamental rights that individuals possess. The first ten amendments to the U.S. constitution are referred to as the Bill of Rights.

Due Process Clause

Clause in the fourteenth amendment that restricts state governments from denying persons their life, liberty, or property without legal safeguards.

procedural due process

The requirement that government officials use methods that are not arbitrary when making and carrying out decisions affecting constitutionally protected rights.

Substantive Due Process

The requirements that the law be fundamentally fair to all citizens.

Selective Incorporation

the process through which the supreme court applies fundamental rights in the bill of rights to the states on a case-by-case basis; the case-by-case process through which the supreme court has affirmed that almost all of the protections in the Bill of Rights apply to state governments.

Free Exercise Clause

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

Establishment Clause

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

Clear and present danger test

Legal Standard that speech posing an immediate and serious threats to national security is not protected by the first amendment.

Prior Restraint

The suppression of material prior to publication.

Symbolic Speech

Protected expression in the form of images, signs, and other symbols.

Libel

An untrue written statement that injures a persons’ reputation.

Slander

An untrue spoken expression that injures a person’s reputation.

Ex post facto Laws

Laws that punish people for acts that weren’t crimes at the time they were committed.

Bills of Attainder

Legislative acts that declare people guilty and impose punishment on those people without a trial.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

The right of people detained by the government to know the charges against them; a document setting out the reasons for an arrest or detention.

Warrant

A document issued by a judge authorizing a search.

Probable Cause

Reasonable belief that a crime has been committed or that there is evidence of criminal activity.

Exclusionary Rule

A rule that evidence obtained without a warrant is inadmissible in court.

Grand Jury

A group of citizens who, based on the evidence presented to them, decide whether to formally charge someone accused of a crime.

Double Jeopardy

After an individual has been acquitted of a crime, charging that individual with the same crime again in the same jurisdiction.

Miranda Rights

The right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney present during questioning, these rights must be given by police to individuals in custody suspected of criminal activity.