chapter 4/5 ap gov

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press and guarantee defendants' rights.

libel

The publication of false and malicious statements that damage someone's reputation.

symbolic speech

Nonverbal communication, such as burning a flag or wearing an armband. The Supreme Court has accorded some symbolic speech protection under the First Amendment.

commercial speech

Communication in the form of advertising, which can be restricted more than many other types of speech.

Roth v. United States

A 1957 Supreme Court decision ruling that 'obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.'

Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo

A 1974 case in which the Supreme Court held that a state could not force a newspaper to print replies from candidates it had criticized, illustrating the limited power of government to restrict the print media.

Red Lion Broadcasting Company v. Federal Communications Commission

A 1969 case in which the Supreme Court upheld restrictions on radio and television broadcasting similar to those it had overturned in Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo. It reasoned that such regulations are justified because there are only a limited number of broadcasting frequencies available.

Texas v. Johnson

A 1989 case in which the Supreme Court struck down a law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.

civil rights

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

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The law making racial discrimination in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbidding many forms of job discrimination.

suffrage

The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and to 18- to 20-year-olds by the Twenty-sixth Amendment.

Fifteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans.

poll taxes

Small taxes levied on the right to vote. This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting. Poll taxes were declared void by the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964.

white primary

Primary elections from which African Americans were excluded, an exclusion that, in the heavily Democratic South, deprived African Americans of a voice in the real contests. The Supreme Court declared white primaries unconstitutional in 1944.

Twenty-fourth Amendment

The constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void in federal elections.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered, and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

A law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make 'reasonable accommodations' for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.

affirmative action

A policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged group.