Civil Liberties
individual legal and constitutional protections against the government
Bill of Rights
restricts the powers of the central government, gives American's freedom
Barron v. Baltimore
(1833), ruled that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government and not the states and cities
Fourteenth Amendment
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1868, extends the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to the states as well as to the federal government
Gitlow v. New York
Court ruled that freedoms of speech and press are personal rights, and that a state government must respect some first amendment rights
First Amendment
(esablishment clause or the free exercise clause), an amendment to the Constitution of the United States guaranteeing the right of free expression
wall of separation
Thomas Jefferson believed that the first amendment created a wall of separation between church and state that forbade any support for religion at all.
Engel v. Vitale
The 1962 Supreme Court decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York's schoolchildren.
School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp
A 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that a Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Employment Division v. Smith
(1990), The Supreme Court ruled that states can prohibit certain religious practices, but not religion itself
Lemon v. Kurtzman
(1971) Ruled that aid could not be given to church related schools unless it had a secular legislative purpose because the government cannot aid the advancement of religion
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
(2002) The court upheld a program that provided some families in Cleveland, Ohio with vouchers that could be used to pay tuition at religious schools
Wisconsin v. Yoder
(1972) the court allowed Amish parents to take their children out of school after the eighth grade
Symbolic Speech
nonverbal communication (picketing)
Near v. Minnesota
the 1931 Supreme Court decision holding that the first amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint.
Schenck v. United States
(1919) Courts ruled that government can limit speech if it provokes a clear and present danger of "substantive evils
Zurcher v. Stanford Daily
A 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the First Amendment rights to freedom of the press.
Roth v. United States
1957 Supreme Court decision ruling that obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.
Miller v. California
A 1973 Supreme Court decision that stated matericals were obscene if, taken as a whole, they appealed "to a prurient interest in sex," showed "patently offensive" sexual conduct that was specifically defined by an obscenity law; and taken as a whole, lack
Communications Decency Act
(1996) Banned obscene material and criminalizing the transmission of indecent speech or images to anyone under 18 years of age [overturned in 2002, the court ruled it violated free speech]
New York Times v. Sullivan
(1964) The right to criticize the government is not libel or slander
Texas v. Johnson
(1989) Johnson set a flag on fire at the 1984 Republican Nation Convention in dallas, the Supreme Court decided that the state law prohibiting flag desecration violated the First Amendment
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
(1969) , A 1969 case in which the Supreme Court upheld restrictions on radio and television broadcasting. These restrictions on the broadcast media are much tighter than those on the print media because there are only a limited number of broadcasting freq
Fourth Amendment
forbids unreasonable searches and seizures
Exclusionary Rule
evidence collected in wrongful search and seizures can be inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law
Mapp v. Ohio
(1961) The Supreme Court incorporated the exclusionary rule within the rights that restrict the states as well as the federal government
United States v. Leon
(1984) Court case which made exceptions to the exclusionary rule, inclusing the good-faith exception
Good-Faith Exception
The exemption allows evidence collected in violation of privacy rights as interpreted from the Fourth Amendment to be admitted at trial if police officers acting in good faith (bona fides) reliance upon a defective search warrant
The USA Patriot Act
Gave the government broad new powers for the wiretapping, surveillance, and investigation of terrorism suspects. Allowed the search of private properties without probable cause and without notice to the owner until the search has been executed
Fifth Amendment
Prohibits against forced self-incrimination, suspects cannot be compelled to provide evidence that can be used against them
Miranda v. Arizona
(1966) set guidlines for police questioning of suspects, whereby suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights.
Dickerson v. US
2000; court upheld the miranda decision; struck down a congressional act allowing voluntary confessions to be accepted before their miranda rights had been read; Rehnquist judicial restraint
Sixth Amendment
The Right to counsel in federal courts
Powell v. Alabama
(1932) the Supreme Court ordered states to provide an attorney for indigent defendants accused of a capital crime, in 1963 the court extended the same right to everyone accused of a felony (Gideon v. Wainwright)
Gideon v. Wainwright
(1963) the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants unable to afford their own attorneys.
Argersinger v. Hamlin
(1972) [in addition to Powell v. Alabama and Gideon v. Wainwright] the Court ruled that a lawyer must be provided for the accused whenever imprisonment could be imposed
Eighth Amendment
forbids cruel and unusual punishment, but does not define the phrase [the death penalty often arises in debate over the Eighth Amendment]
Furman v. Georgia
(1972), 8th Amendment Capital punishment. It raised the question of racial imbalances in the use of the death penaltyby state courts. Many states rewrote the death penalty statutes.
McCleskey v. Kemp
(1987), The Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment because minority defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than were White defendants.
Griswold v. Connecticut
(1965) was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives.
Roe v. Wade
(1973) the Courts divided pregnancy into three equal trimesters. Roe forbade any state control of abortions during the first trimester; permitted states to allow regulated abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester; and allowed the s
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
(1989) a clinic in St. Louis challenged the constitutionality of a Missouri law that forbade the use of state funds or state employees to perform abortions, but the Court upheld the law
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
In 1992, the Court changed its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion, states may regulate abortion as long as there is "no undue burden" on the mother; did not overturn Roe v. Wade but gave states mroe leeway in regulating abortion (parental co
Sternberg v. Carhart
(2000) The Court held that Nebraska's prohibition of "partial birth" abortions was unconstitutional because it placed an undue burden on women seeking an abortion by limiting their options to less safe procedures and because the law provided no exception
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
made it a federal crime to intimidate abortion providers or women seeking abortions.
Shield Laws
state laws that protect journalists from having to reveal their sources
Libel
The publication of statements known to be false that are malicious and tend to damage a person's reputation
The Supreme Court has interpreted the establishment clause of the First Amendment as
prohibiting the sponsorship or encouragement of prayers in public schools.
Incorporation Doctrine
The incorporation of the Bill of Rights (or incorporation for short) is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to the 1890s, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal gover
Free Exercise Clause
he Free Exercise Clause is the accompanying clause with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
Prior Restraint
A government's 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 as confirmed in 1931 Supreme Court case of Ne