Civil Liberties
Constitutional freedoms guaranteed to all citizens
Civil Rights
Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.
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.
14th Amendment
(1868) granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. Banned states from denying any person life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and banned states from denying any person equal protection under laws.
Due Process Clause
14th amendment clause stating that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law
Equal Protection Clause
14th amendment clause that prohibits states from denying equal protection under the law, and has been used to combat discrimination
Selective Incorporation
The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.
Establishment Clause
Clause in the First Amendment that says the government may not establish an official religion.
Free Exercise Clause
A First Amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion.
Wall of Separation Principle
An interpretation of the establishment clause embraced by the Supreme Court that allows no government involvement with religion, even on a nonpreferential basis.
Lemon Test
1) The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose; 2)The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion; 3) The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement
Parochial School
schools sponsored by a church
School Vouchers
movement dating to the 1950s to allow taxpayer dollars to be given to families to use at whatever public, private, or parochial schools they choose.
Freedom of Expression
Right of people to speak, publish, and assemble
Capital Punishment
Death Penalty
Privileges and Immunity Clause
A clause in Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution according citizens of each state most of the privileges of citizens of other states.
Gag Order
An order issued by a judge restricting the publication of news about a trial or a pretrial hearing to protect the accused's right to a fair trial.
Schenck v. US
Can limit free speech when there is a "clear and present danger
Majority Rule
A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected.
Minority Rights
A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument.
Privacy Rights
of or pertaining to an individual's right to prohibit personal information from being divulged to the public
Clear and Present Danger
Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
Time, Place, and Manner
A first amendment concept that laws regulating the conditions of speech are more acceptable the those regulating content, also the laws that regulate these conditions
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.
Hate Crime
A criminal act against a person or a person's property by an offender motivated by racial or other bias
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 Supreme Court case
Libel
(n.) a written statement that unfairly or falsely harms the reputation of the person about whom it is made; (v.) to write or publish such a statement
Slander
False charges and malicious oral statements about someone
Actual Malice
A condition that exists when a person makes a statement with either knowledge of its falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth. In a defamation suit, a statement made about a public figure normally must be made with actual malice for liability to be i
Obscenity
Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Miller Test
The current judicial test for obscenity cases that considers community standards, whether the material is patently offensive, and whether the material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
Community Standards
The Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that a work is obscene if it is "utterly without redeeming social importance" and, "to the average person, applying contemporary 'community standards,' the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to prurie
Prurient Interest
A shameful or morbid interest in sex.
Preferred Interest
interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that freedom of expression is so essential to the operation of a democracy that judges should give it special protection and should almost never allow governments to punish persons for what they say, only f
Imminent Danger
a situation that poses the strong possibility of risk to people nearby
Self Incrimination
the situation occurring when an individual accused of a crime is compelled to be a witness against himself or herself in court. The Fifth Amendment forbids self-incrimination.
Sedition Acts
Limited the freedom of Press and Speech of the citizens. If a citizen "bad mouthed" the government they were imprisoned and fined
Coercion Test
violates establishment clause if it provides direct aid to religion in a way that would establish a state church or coerces people to support or participate in a certain religion against their will
Smith Act
1940 act which made it illegal to speak of or advocate overthrowing the U.S. government. Was used by Truman 11 times to prosecute suspected Communists
FISA Court
used to approve the request from a president to do a warrantless wiretap; meets in secret; consists of federal district judges
Neutrality and Clarity
any restriction on speech must be neutral (it must not favor one group more than another); if you must obtain a permit to hold a parade, the law must set forth clear standards to guide administrators in issuing that permit (similarly, a law punishing obsc
Least Restrictive Means
If one right must be restricted to protect another right, the restriction must be as minimal as possible.
Pentagon Papers
(RN), , a classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study in 1971 to the New York Times and Washington Post. The Supreme Court upheld the right
Commercial Speech
Communication in the form of advertising. It can be restricted more than many other types of speech but has been receiving increased protection from the Supreme Court.
Right to Associate
The freedom to meet with others for political or any other lawful purposes
Right to Assemble
The right or legal claim provided for in the First Amendment that allows people to meet to discuss and express their beliefs, ideas, or feelings, especially in a political context.
Indictment
(n.) the act of accusing; a formal accusation
Grand Jury
A jury of 12 to 23 persons who, in private, hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed, it issues an indictment.
Substantive Due Process
Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what a government may do.
Procedural Due Process
Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how government may exercise power.
Probable Cause
(law) evidence sufficient to warrant an arrest or search and seizure
Exclusionary Rule
A rule that provides that otherwise admissible evidence cannot be used in a criminal trial if it was the result of illegal police conduct
Good Faith Exception
An exception to the Supreme Court exclusionary rule, holding that evidence seized on the basis of a mistakenly issued search warrant can be introduced at trial if the mistake was made in good faith, that is, if all the parties involved had reason at the t
Miranda Rights
A list of rights that police in the United States must read to suspects in custody before questioning them, pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona.
Patriot Act
This law passed after 9/11 expanded the tools used to fight terrorism and improved communication between law enforcement and intelligence agencies
Endorsement Test
belief that the establishment clause forbids governmental practices that a reasonable observer would view as endorsing religion, even if there is no coercion
Palko v. Ct
Concerned the incorporation of the 5th Amendment right against double jeopardy, did not establish this right, ruled against it. Later reversed by Benton v Maryland.
Political Speech
expressions concerning politics, government, public figures, and issues of public concern- the form of expression that contemporary commentators view as most deserving of first amendment protection