AP US Government and Politics Unit 3

1st Amendment

Freedom of religion, assembly, press, petition, and speech.

Establishment Clause

Prohibits the establishment of religion by Congress.

Free Exercise Clause

Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

2nd Amendment

Right to keep and bear arms.

3rd Amendment

Right to not quarter soldiers during time of war.

4th Amendment

Right to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure.

5th Amendment

Right to due process, self-incrimination, and double jeopardy.

Takings Clause

Limits the power of eminent domain by requiring that just compensation be paid if private property is taken for public use.

6th Amendment

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

7th Amendment

Right to a trial by jury in civil cases.

8th Amendment

Right to face excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual punishment.

9th Amendment

There are other rights besides the ones listed in the Bill of Rights and the federal government cannot violate those rights (unenumerated rights).

10th Amendment

All powers not delegated to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved the states or to the people.

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.

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.

Individual Liberties

Constitutionally established rights and freedoms protected by law from interference by the government.

Engel v. Vitale

A case contesting a New York state law requiring schoolchildren to recite a nondenominational prayer each morning. A group of parents sued the state arguing that the law was a violation of the establishment clause. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents saying that it was unconstitutional for the government to support a religion through prayer.

Lemon Test

Determined if a law violated the establishment clause devised by the Supreme Court. Based on the Lemon Test, laws are constitutional only is they have a legitimate secular purpose, neither advance nor inhibit religion, and do not result in an excessive government entanglement with religion.

Free Exercise Clause

The right to practice the religion of your choice.

Wisconsin v. Yoder

A Supreme Court case concerning the mandatory schooling of three Amish students. The families did not want to send their children to school after 8th grade and the state fined them. The court ruled in favor of the families, stating that the 1st Amendment protects their free exercise of religion and that it outweighed the state’s interests in compelling the students to attend school.

Tinker v. Des Moines

A Supreme Court case where a public school district in Iowa suspended three teenagers for wearing armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Their families sued the school system, and the case reached the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the school district had violated the students’ free speech rights. The armbands were a form of symbolic speech which the 1st Amendment protects.

Protected Speech

Symbolic speech such as armbands and hate speech such as burning the US flag.

Schenck v. United States

Schenck distributed flyers urging men to resist the military draft claiming that it violated the 13th Amendment. He was arrested under the Espionage Act which banned interference with military operations or supporting US enemies during wartime. The Supreme Court case concerned whether the Espionage Act violated free speech rights. The court upheld the Espionage Act, ruling that the speech created a clear and present danger. There is a time, place, and manner for speech.

Unprotected Speech

Defamation, obscenity such as sexual content that lacks any value, and speech that incites imminent lawless action are considered unprotected speech under the First Amendment.

NYT v. United States

President Nixon attempted to restrain the NYT and Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers, which revealed classified information about the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that the government's attempt to prevent publication was unconstitutional, affirming freedom of the press from the 1st Amendment.

Prior Restraint

Due to freedom of press, there is a heavy presumption against government claims of censorship, which means that it is very difficult for the government to prove that they’re right in limiting freedom of the press.

McDonald v. Chicago

The first case in which the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms was incorporated to the states. Chicago passed a handgun ban unconstitutional, ruling that the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms for self defense is fundamental and therefore incorporated to the states through the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.

Selective Incorporation

The legal doctrine that ensures that selected rights in the Bill of Rights are applied to the states through the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause, protecting individual liberties from state infringement. The liberties in the Bill of Rights cannot be taken away by the state or federal government.

Gideon v. Wainwright

A selective incorporation case in which Gideon was accused of robbing a pool bank and was denied the right to counsel. The Supreme Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment. The court ruled in favor of Gideon and required states to provide a lawyer to any defendant who could not afford one.

Miranda Rule

Suspects in custody must be informed of their 5th and 6th amendment rights (right to an attorney and right to remain silent).

Public Safety Exception

If a question is asked to neutralize a dangerous situation and the suspect responds voluntarily, the statement can be used in trial even if the suspect was not informed of their Miranda rights.

Exclusionary Rule

Evidence illegally seized by law enforcement officers in violation of the 4th Amendment cannot be used against the suspect in criminal prosecution.

Patriot Act

Post 9/11, the government secretly and illegally without a warrant acquired a examined cell phone data.

USA Freedom Act

Limitations placed on bulk collection of telecommunication metadata.

Penumbra of Privacy

The Supreme Court has ruled that several amendments cast a shadow of the right to privacy, although it is never explicit in the Constitution. The right can, for example, be derived from the 4th Amendment, which states no unwarranted searches and seizures, so the right to privacy in someone’s home.

Roe v. Wade

Jane Roe wanted to get an abortion but could not legally in Texas. She sued the district attorney on the basis of the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 15th amendments. The Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s decision to have an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy fell under the right to privacy inherent in the 14th Amendment and thus protected by the Constitution. The court did permit limits on abortion in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

13th Amendment

Abolition of slavery.

15th Amendment

Right to vote for all men regardless of race or color.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Demand fulfillment for African Americans of the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The 4 steps of any nonviolent campaign are collecting the facts of whether the injustices are happening, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action.

Civil Rights Act

Banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, or sex in public accommodations or employment. The act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ensure fair hiring practices.

Voting Rights Act

Allowed Congress and the federal government to oversee state elections in Southern states. Banned literacy tests or other obstacles to vote and added the 24th Amendment.

Brown v. Board of Education

Brown sued the Board of Education because his child was forced to attend a segregated elementary school. Thurgood Marshall represented Brown and argued that "separate but equal" educational facilities are inherently unequal, leading the Supreme Court to unanimously rule that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional and that it violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

Majority-Minority Districts

Voting districts in which a minority group makes up a majority.

Women’s Rights Movement

The National Organization for Women (NOW) led this movement.

Equal Pay Act

Promised equal pay for equal work.

Title 9

Prohibits discrimination of the basis of sex from any federally funded education program and allocated more money for female sports.

Limiting Civil Rights

The Supreme Court has limited civil rights through Plessy v. Ferguson, which legalized segregation and Jim Crow laws, and Shaw v. Reno, which struck down racial gerrymandering and ruled that the equal protection clause is colorblind.

Expanding Civil Rights

The Supreme Court expanded civil rights through cases like Brown v. Board of Education which required desegregation and affirmative action.