Assignment #9: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Question 1

DC v. Heller

Answer 1

The Supreme Court ruled that D.C.’s ban on handgun ownership was unconstitutional.

Question 2

civil liberties

Answer 2

The personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge by law, constitution or judicial interpretation.

Question 3

substantive due process

Answer 3

Judicial interpretation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments’ due process clauses that protects citizens from arbitrary or unjust state or federal laws; states have a legal burden to prove that their laws were a valid exercise of their power as a means to exact the welfare of their people.

Question 4

selective incorporation

Answer 4

A judicial doctrine whereby most but not all of the protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 5

Gitlow v. New York

Answer 5

Incorporated the free speech clause of the First Amendment, ruling that the states were not completely free to limit forms of political expression.

Question 6

Palko v. Connecticut

Answer 6

Set the Court’s rationale of selective incorporation, a judicial doctrine whereby most but not all of the protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 7

establishment clause

Answer 7

The first clause of the First Amendment; it directs the national government not to sanction an official religion.

Question 8

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 8

The Court ruled that the recitation in public classrooms of a nondenominational prayer was unconstitutional and a violation of the establishment clause.

Question 9

Abington School District v. Schempp

Answer 9

The Court ruled that state-mandated Bible reading or recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools was unconstitutional.

Question 10

“wall of separation”

Answer 10

The barrier between church and state.

Question 11

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Answer 11

The Court determined that direct government assistance to religious schools is unconstitutional unless that aid be sanctioned for a secular purpose. In the majority opinion, the Court created what has become known as the Lemon test for deciding if a law is in violation of that establishment clause: a practice or policy is constitutional if it (1) has a legitimate secular purpose, (2) neither advanced nor inhibited religion, and (3) did not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.

Question 12

free exercise clause

Answer 12

The second clause of the First Amendment; it prohibits the U.S. Government from interfering with a citizen’s right to practice his or her religion.

Question 13

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Answer 13

Passed by the Court in 2000; specifically made the use of peyote (an illegal drug) in religious services legal.

Question 14

prior restraint

Answer 14

Constitutional doctrine that prevents the government form prohibiting speech or publication before the fact; generally held to be in violation of the First Amendment.

Question 15

“clear and present danger” test

Answer 15

Test articulated by the Supreme Court in Schneck v. U.S. to draw the line between protected and unprotected speech; the Court looks to see “whether the words used” could “create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive evils” that Congress seeks “to prevent.”

Question 16

symbolic speech

Answer 16

Symbols, signs and other methods of expression generally considered to be protected by the First Amendment.

Question 17

New York Times v. United States

Answer 17

Also called the Pentagon Papers case; the Supreme Court ruled that any attempt by the government to prevent expression carried “a heavy presumption” against its constitutionality.

Question 18

libel & slander

Answer 18

Written statement that defames a person’s character (libel) and untrue spoken statements that defame the character of a person (slander). Libel and slander are NOT protected speech and press, however it is difficult to sue someone for libel as one must prove that statements intended “actual malice.”

Question 19

New York Times v. Sullivan

Answer 19

The Supreme Court ruled that simply publishing a defamatory falsehood is not enough to justify a libel judgment. “Actual malice” must be proved to support a finding of libel against a public figure.

Question 20

“fighting words”

Answer 20

Words that, “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend or invite an immediate breach of peace.” This includes profanity, obscenity and threats. Fighting words are not protected by the Constitution.

Question 21

obscenity & pornography

Answer 21

Obscene material is not protected by the Constitution. These materials may be considered obscene if “the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value (SLAPS test).”

Question 22

Miller v. California

Answer 22

The Court ruled that Miller’s dispersal of sexually explicit materials was not protected by the Constitution and introduced the SLAPS test: materials may be considered obscene if “the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value (SLAPS test).”

Question 23

habeas corpus

Answer 23

Writs of habeas corpus are court orders in which a judge requires authorities to prove that a prisoner is being held lawfully and that allow the prisoner to be freed if the judge is not persuaded by the government’s case. Habeas corpus rights imply that prisoners have a right to know what charges are being made against them.

Question 24

grand juries

Answer 24

A jury, normally of twenty-three jurors, selected to examine the validity of an accusation and determine whether or not there is enough evidence to go to trial. The Fifth Amendment requires that individuals who are accused in the most serious cases be allowed to present their case before a grand jury.

Question 25

Miranda v. Arizona

Answer 25

The Fifth Amendment requires that individuals arrested for a crime must be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counsel present.

Question 26

eminent domain

Answer 26

The right of a government or its agent to seize private property for public use, with payment of compensation.

Question 27

exclusionary rule

Answer 27

Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial. Established in Weeks v. U.S.; the Court reasoned that allowing police and prosecutors to use the “fruits of a poisonous tree” (a tainted search) would only encourage that activity.

Question 28

Mapp v. Ohio

Answer 28

Incorporated a portion of the Fourth Amendment by establishing that illegally obtained evidence cannot be used at trial.

Question 29

inevitable discovery rule

Answer 29

A doctrine in the United States criminal procedure that allows evidence of a defendant’s guilt that would otherwise be considered inadmissible under the exclusionary rule to be admitted into evidence in a trial.

Question 30

Gideon v. Wainwright

Answer 30

The Court granted indigents the right to counsel in felony cases; selective incorporation of the Sixth Amendment.

Question 31

death penalty

Answer 31

Currently, the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the death penalty by lethal injection. There are two key classes of people that are exempt from the death penalty: the “mentally retarded” and those under the age of eighteen.

Question 32

Gregg v. Georgia

Answer 32

Overturning Furman v. Georgia (that ended capital punishment), the case ruled that Georgia’s rewritten death penalty statue was constitutional.

Question 33

right to privacy

Answer 33

The right to be left alone; a judicially created principle encompassing a variety of individual actions protected by several constitutional amendments, including the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Question 34

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 34

Supreme Court case that established the Constitution’s implied right to privacy.

Question 35

Roe v. Wade

Answer 35

The Supreme Court found that a woman’s right to an abortion during the first trimester was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 36

Lawrence v. Texas

Answer 36

The Court reversed its 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick by finding a Texas statue that banned sodomy (interpreted to target homosexuals’ sex lives specifically) to be unconstitutional.

Question 37

civil rights

Answer 37

The government-protected rights of individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by governments or individuals.

Question 38

equal protection clause

Answer 38

Section of the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees that all citizens receive “equal protection of the laws.”

Question 39

Jim Crow laws

Answer 39

Laws enacted by southern states that required segregation in public schools, theater, hotels and other public accommodations.

Question 40

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 40

Plessy challenged a Louisiana statute requiring that railroads provide separate accommodations for blacks and whites. The Court found that separate but equal accommodations did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Question 41

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 41

Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation is inherently unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection; marked the end of legal segregation in the United States.

Question 42

NAACP

Answer 42

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; relied heavily on litigation as a means to achieving expanded equality.

Question 43

SCLC

Answer 43

Southern Christian Leadership Conference; philosophy reflected King’s belief in the effectiveness of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.

Question 44

SNCC

Answer 44

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee; led freedom rides, designed to focus attention on segregated public accommodations.

Question 45

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 45

• Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits
• Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce
• Authorized the Department of Justice to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools
• Provided for the withholding of federal funds from discriminatory state and local programs
• Prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds of race, creed, color, religion, national origin or sex
• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor and enforce the bans on employment discrimination

Question 46

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 46

Outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Question 47

de jure vs de facto segregation

Answer 47

Racial segregation that is a direct result of law or official policy (de jure) vs racial discrimination that results from practice (such as housing patterns or other social or institutional non-governmental factors) rather than the law (de facto).

Question 48

NOW & the ERA

Answer 48

The National Organization for Women urged for the passage of the Equal Rights Act. The ERA passed through Congress, but was only ratified by 22 states (out of the 35 that was needed). The amendment provided that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Question 49

suspect classifications

Answer 49

Category or class, such as race, that triggers the highest standard of scrutiny from the Supreme Court.

Question 50

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Answer 50

Legislation that requires employers to pay men and women equal pay for equal work.

Question 51

Title IX

Answer 51

Provision of the Education Amendments of 1972 that bars educational institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating against female students.

Question 52

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Answer 52

• The status defined a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more “life activities,” or who has a record of such impairment.
• It extended the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to all citizens with physical or mental disabilities.
• It guarantees access to public facilities, employment and communication services.
• It also required employers to acquire or modify work equipment, adjust work schedules and make existing facilities accessible to those with disabilities.

Question 53

affirmative action

Answer 53

Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to members of a previously disadvantaged group.

Question 54

University of California v. Bakke

Answer 54

A sharply divided Court concluded that the university’s rejection of Bakke as a student was illegal because the use of strict affirmative action quotas was inappropriate.