Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Chapter 4 Civil Liberties

Terms in this set (55)

Civil Liberties
Areas of personal freedom with which governments are constrained from interfering.
Anti-Federalists
Those who favored strong state government and a weak national government and who were opponents of the constitution proposed at the american constitution convention of 1787
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments in the United States Constitution, ratified in 1971; they ensure certain rights and liberties to the people
Ninth Amendment
Unenumerated Rights. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people."
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Engel v. Vitale
(1962) Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th Amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Lemon v. Kurtzman
1971 defining government actionsin dealing with religion--must not inhibit or advance religion and does not entangle the goverment with religion.
Gitlow v. New York
1925 Anarchist calling for overthrow of the government. Established precedent of federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to States); States cannot deny freedom of speech - protected through due process clause of Amendment 14
Incorporation Doctrine
The legal concept under which the Supreme Court has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Establishment Clause
The first amendment clause that says that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." This law means that a "wall of separation" exists between church and state.
Free Exercise Clause
The first amendment clause that protects a citizen's right to believe and practice whatever religion he or she chooses.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
2002 Supreme Court decision that upheld a state providing families with vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools
Schenck v. US
1919; dealt with freedom of the press; can limit free speech when there is a "clear and present danger"
clear and present danger test
interpretation by justice Oliver Wendell Holmes regarding limits on free speech if it presents clear and present danger to the public or leads to illegal actions; for example, one cannot shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
(1969) Speech that does not call for illegal action is protected, and even speech that does call for illegal action is protected if the action is not "imminent" or there is reason to believe that the listeners will not take action.
direct incitement test
Test that holds advocacy of illegal action is protected by the first amendment.
Tinker v. Des Moines
1969, At a public school in Des Moines, Iowa, students organized a silent protest against the Vietnam War. Students planned to wear black armbands to school to protest the fighting but the principal found out and told the students they would be suspended if they wore the armbands.
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.
Prior restraint
a government preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the United States according to the first amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 case of Near v. Minnesota.
Libel & slander
2 major 'areas' of unprotected speech/publication
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
(1964), extended the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech to libel cases brought by public officials. The Supreme Court sought to encourage public debate by changing the rules involving libel that had previously been the province of state law and state courts.
Fighting words
words guaranteed to inflict injury or incite acts of violence; unprotected under clear and present danger
Miller v. California
(1973) was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision wherein the court redefined its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that that lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Reno v. ACLU
(1997), is a United States Supreme Court case in which all nine Justices of the Court voted to strike down anti-indecency provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), because they violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.
Lawrence v. Texas
(2003), striking down state Sodomy laws as applied to gays and lesbians.
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
April 16, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) of 1996 were vague and overly broad and thus violated the free-speech protection contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
DeJonge v. Oregon
1937 The Court established that the right of association (assembly) was as important as other First Amendment rights and used the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to apply freedom of assembly to the states.
Second Amendment
the right to bear arms
Brady Bill
passed in 1993, established a waiting period for buying hand guns and required a criminal record check
Writ of habeas corpus
A court order requiring police officials to produce an individual held in custody and show sufficient cause for that person's detention.
American Civil Liberties Union
It defends and preserves the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.
Fourth Amendment
right to protection from "unreasonable" searches and seizures; probable cause in order to take one's property
Weeks v. US
1914, Established the exclusionary rule in federal cases. Prohibited evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures from being admitted in court.
Due process
the right of every citizen against arbitrary action by national or state government
Substantive due process
mainly in 14 amendment; due process interpretation that protects citizens from unjust laws; government must treat all equally in protecting rights/liberties
Miranda v. Arizona
1966, The Court ruled that suspects in police custody have certain rights and that they must be informed of those rights (right to remain silent, right to an attorney).
Miranda Rights
Statements that must be made by the police informing a suspect of his or her constitutional rights protected by the Fifth Amendment, including the right to an attorney provided by the court if the suspect cannot afford one.
Fifth Amendment
creates a number of rights relevant to both criminal and civil legal proceedings. In criminal cases, the Fifth Amendment guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids "double jeopardy," and protects against self-incrimination. It also requires that "due process of law" be part of any proceeding that denies a citizen "life, liberty or property" and requires the government to compensate citizens when it takes private property for public use.
Palko v. Connecticut
(1937), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy.
Double jeopardy clause
the fifth amendments right providing that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime
Eminent Domain
the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
Fourteenth Amendment
the constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Selective incorporation
the process by which different protections in the bill of rights were incorporated in the into the fourteenth amendment, thus guaranteeing citizens protection from state as well as national government
Sixth Amendment
the constitutional amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes. It includes the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a speedy and public trial.
Mapp v. Ohio
1961, The Court ruled that evidence obtained without a search warrant was excluded from trial in state courts. The case involved the application of the exclusionary rule to the states. The exclusionary rule is the Court's effort to deter illegal police conduct by barring from court evidence that has been obtained in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Gideon v. Wainwright
1963, The Court ruled that in state trials, those who cannot afford an attorney will have one provided by the state, overturning Betts v. Brady.
Eighth Amendment
the constitutional amendment that forbids cruel and unusual punishment, although it does not define this phrase. Through the fourteenth amendment, this bill of rights provision applies to the states.
Griswold v. Connecticut
1965, The Court ruled that the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amednements created "zones of privacy" and enhanced the concept of enumerated rights.
right to privacy
the right to a private personal life free from intrusion of the government.
Roe v. Wade
1973, The outcome was a continuation of the recognition of a constitutional right of privacy for a woman to determine whether to terminate a pregnancy.
Freedom of the Press
"the right to publish newspapers, magazines, and other printed matter without governmental restriction and subject only to the laws of libel, obscenity, sedition, etc."
Actual Malice
Legal word for publishing false information knowingly
Search Warrant
A written authorization to police officers to conduct a search.
Starry Decisis
Uphold the previous ruling
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...