Chapter 4 Flashcards
Civil rights
Rights that (1) enable individuals to engage in activities central to citizenship or legal immigrant status, such as voting or petitioning the government; (2) ensure all individuals receive due process and equal treatment under the law or (3) guarantee freedom from discriminatory actions by others that seek to deny an individual’s full status as an equal member of society.
civil liberties
freedoms protected from interference by the government, such as freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and freedom of religion.
civil rights movement
a social movement of the 1950s and 1960s focused primarily on the situation of African Americans, but also promoting the goals that all people be treated as equals under the law and that discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and place of origin be eliminated.
strict scrutiny
the highest-level standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this standard is considered unconstitutional unless it advances a “compelling state interest” and represents the least intrusive means.
rational basis test
the lowest-level standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this standard is assumed to be constitutional as long as its goals are clearly linked to its means.
intermediate scrutiny
an intermediate standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this is considered constitutional if it advances “an important government objective” and is “substantially related” to the objective.
affirmative action
efforts to redress previous discrimination against women and minorities through active measures to promote their employment and educational opportunities.
Jim Crow laws
laws passed after the Civil War to establish a system of segregation of public facilities and private establishments that made African Americans second-class citizens.
