AP GOV U5

1. Civil Liberties: Fundamental rights & freedoms of individuals that are protected by unreasonable governmental restriction

2. Amendment: Change to the Constitution

• Proposal: 2/3 vote by both houses in Congress OR 2/3 vote at a special convention called by states

3. Ratification: Official adoption

• 3/4 vote of state legislatures OR 3/4 vote at a special ratifying convention called by states

4. Bill of Rights: 1st 10 amendments to the Constitution that protect the individual rights of citizens 

• Ratified in 1791

5. 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

6. Establishment Clause: Protects individuals from the government requiring citizens to join or support a religion

7. Free Exercise Clause: Protects the rights of individuals to exercise and express their religious beliefs

8. Free Expression: Freedom to express political beliefs & opinions 

• Includes rights to freedom of speech, press, petition, & assembly)

9. Clear and Present Danger: legal standard that speech posing an immediate and serious threat to national security is not protected by the First Amendment

10. Prior Restraint: Occurs when the government censors or suppresses material before it is published 

• Used when the nation is at war or when speech would incite violence

11. Espionage Act of 1917

12. Symbolic speech: The Supreme Court has protected the political expression of spoken and printed words and has also extended these protections to symbolic speech = images, signs, & symbols used as forms of political expression

13. Expression that defames a person’s reputation is not protected in the same way as political expression:

14. Slander: Spoken lies

15. Libel: Written lies

16. Restrictions on Obscenity and Pornography: Words, images or videos that depict sexual activity in an offensive manner and that lack any artistic merit

17. Time, Place and Manner: Governments may impose reasonable restrictions on time, place or manner of protected speech.

• Imposing limits on the noise level of speech

• Capping the number of protesters who may occupy a given forum

• Barring early-morning or late-evening demonstrations

• Requiring protestors to obtain a permit to protest on government ground

18. Selective Incorporation: piecemeal process through which the Supreme Court has affirmed that almost all of the protections in the Bill of Rights also apply to state governments.

19. States and the Bill of Rights: The language of the Bill of Rights doesn’t restrict the actions of state governments and their officials…. So states did not apply the Bill of Rights to its laws or actions.

20. 14th Amendment: Laid the foundation for extending the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states.

21. Due Process Clause (14th amendment): No state can deprive “life, liberty or property without due process of the law.”

22. Warrant: A document issued by a judge authorizing some activity, before searching people or places. 

23. Probable Cause: Reasonable belief that a crime has been committed or that is evident relevant to a criminal investigation. 

24. Exclusionary Rule: Evidence obtained without a warrant is not admissible in court. 

25. Procedural Due Process: The court is required to follow established procedures. 

26. Grand Jury: Examines evidence and decide whether or not there is enough evidence to take the defendant to trial.

27. Miranda Rights: Rights read to someone accused of a crime that tell them they have the right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning. 

28. Bail

29. Civil Rights: Government's protection of individuals from discrimination as members of particular groups. 

30. 13th Amendment: abolished slavery

31. 14th Amendment: defined citizenship (anyone born in the United States is a citizen); has Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses

32. 15th Amendment: it is illegal to discriminate for voting based on race; banned literacy tests

33. Jim Crow Laws: enforced segregation across all aspects of daily life, including transportation, entertainment, business, and education

34. De jure segregation: legal segregation (separation by law); enforced by government

35. De facto segregation: segregation that exists by practice and customs; enforced by society

36. Social Movements: resistance to the decision in Brown v. Board and in order to desegregate at “all deliberate speed,” African-American community leaders take alternative actions to end segregation in schools, workplaces, and communities.

37. Civil Disobedience: intentionally breaking a law to protest an injustice

38. Civil Rights Act of 1964: Authorized the federal government to withhold grants from districts that did not integrate desegregation to their schools . 

39. Voting Rights Act of 1965: Prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race and color. (Eliminated literacy tests)

40. Affirmative Action: Designed to address the consequences to individuals based on their characteristics, such as race or gender. 

41. Strict Scrutiny Standard: Government has to show a “compelling interest” to justify unequal treatment

• Ex.) Affirmative Action

42. Rational Based Standard: Differential treatment must be shown to be reasonable & not arbitrary

• Ex.) Air traffic controllers have to retire by age 56

43. Intermediate Scrutiny: Falls in between the 1st 2 standards

• Most forms of gender discrimination are unconstitutional except when such treatment can be justified as serving important governmental objectives

- Ex.) Court has upheld the law that required males & not females register for the draft at age 18

44. First Wave: (19th century) Focused on the right to vote

45. 2nd Wave: (Began in the early 1960s) Focused on equality in the classroom and in the workplace

46. Betty Friedan: Author of the Feminine Mystique, criticized American society for assuming that women were best suited for roles as wives and mothers

• Friedan became

47. Title VII (7): 

48. Title IX (9): 

49. 19th Amendment

50. Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)