Chapter 4

Question 1

Civil liberties

Answer 1

• Something the government cannot do.
• Originally only limited the power of the national government.
• There were no guarantees that the rights would be protected by all states.

Question 2

Bill of Rights

Answer 2

• First 10 amendments of constitution
• Created because of a fear of tyrannical government.
• Did not protect people from state’s actions.

Question 3

Freedom of Religion

Answer 3

• First Amendment
• Establishment and free exercise of religion
• Must have separation of church and state
• Government should not endorse or attack any religion.

Question 4

Establishment clause

Answer 4

Prohibits government from establishing and supporting a church\religion, thus separating church and state.

Question 5

Free exercise Clause

Answer 5

Government cannot stop anyone from practicing the religion of their choice.

Question 6

Writ of habeas corpus

Answer 6

A court order in which a jailer brings in a prisoner and explains why the person is imprisoned. If the judge finds the imprisonment unlawful, he or she will order the jailer to change the situation.

Question 7

Bill of attainder

Answer 7

A law that inflicts punishment without a trial.

Question 8

Ex post facto law

Answer 8

A law that inflicts punishment for an act that was not illegal at the time it was committed.

Question 9

Incorporation theory

Answer 9

Bill of Rights is incorporated in the 14th Amendment’s protection against state government actions.

Question 10

Lemon vs. Kurtman

Answer 10

Supreme Court ruled that direct state aid could not be used to fund religious instruction.

Question 11

School Vouchers

Answer 11

Vouchers were state-issued funds used by people to buy education, and was declared in court that it did not violate establishment clause.

Question 12

Engel vs. Vitale

Answer 12

School prayer. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools.

Question 13

Prior restraint

Answer 13

Restraining an activity before it has actually occurred. E.g. censorship
Supreme Court justices are against prior restraints on expression.

Question 14

New York Times vs. United States (Pentagon Papers case)

Answer 14

Court ruled that Times and Washington Post have the right to publish the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the U. S. government’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

Question 15

Symbolic Speech

Answer 15

Nonverbal forms of expression like hats, clothes, flag-burning, etc
Protected by 1st Amendment

Question 16

Tinker vs. Des Moines School District

Answer 16

Court ruled that the wearing of black armbands by students in protest against the Vietnam War was a form of speech protected by the 1st Amendment.

Question 17

Commercial speech

Answer 17

Advertisements; was once unprotected, but now given more protection under 1st Amendment.

Question 18

Gitlow Case

Answer 18

A radical anarchist distributed pamphlets urging the violent overthrow of the government. Technically, free speech is protected by 1st Amendment but the bad tendency rule punished him because his speech could lead to “evil.”

Question 19

Defamation of character

Answer 19

Wrongfully hurting another person’s good reputation through slander or libel.

Question 20

Slander

Answer 20

Making false, defamatory statements about someone.

Question 21

Libel

Answer 21

Written slander.

Question 22

Roe vs. Wade

Answer 22

Court ruled that anti-abortion laws violated Jane Roe’s right to privacy.

Question 23

In re Quinlan and Cruzan vs. Director, Missouri Department of Health

Answer 23

Supreme Court ruled that patient has right to refuse treatment and “right to die”.

Question 24

Case of Terri Schiavo

Answer 24

A woman who was incapable of being physically active and relied on a feeding tube to keep herself alive told her husband to allow her to die. Her parents fought this in court, but lost on the ground that a spouse, not a parent, is the appropriate legal guardian for a married person.

Question 25

Physician-assisted Suicide

Answer 25

Courts have outlawed physician-assisted suicide until 1996, when Court decided this issue should be left to the states.

Question 26

Osborn vs. Ohio

Answer 26

Ban on private possession of child pornograpy

Question 27

Griswold vs Connecticut

Answer 27

People have a right to government records

Question 28

Webster case

Answer 28

Allowed states to ban the use of public hospitals for abortion.

Question 29

14th Amendment

Answer 29

No unreasonable search or seizure

Question 30

5th Amendment

Answer 30

No coerced confessions, no compulsory self-incrimination.

Question 31

Gideon vs. Wainwright

Answer 31

Court held that if a person is accused of a felony and cannot afford an attorney, the government must provide an attorney for the accused person.

Question 32

Miranda Rights

Answer 32

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?

Question 33

Miranda vs. Arizona

Answer 33

Ernesto Miranda was charged with the kidnapping and rape of a young woman. His lawyer appealed his conviction arguing that the police had never informed him of his right to remain silent and be represented by counsel.

Question 34

Right to assembly and petition

Answer 34

State and local governments cannot bar people’s right to assemble, but they can require a permit.

Question 35

Exclusionary Rule

Answer 35

Prohibits the admission of illegally seized evidence at trials in federal courts.