Chapter 4: Civil Liberties

Question 1

What are Civil Liberties?

Answer 1

limitations on the power of Government to ensure personal freedoms.

Question 2

What is Selective Incorporation?

Answer 2

the gradual process of making Bill of Rights guarantees apply to all levels of government. Introduced by the 14th Amendment,

Question 3

What is the Establishment Clause?

Answer 3

A provision under the 1st Amendment. Protects the people from having a set of religious beliefs imposed by the government.

Question 4

What is the Free Exercise Clause

Answer 4

Protection of religious beliefs bring restricted by the government.

Question 5

Freedom of Expression

Answer 5

Includes freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and petition. Freedom of expression is subject to certain constraints to balance the interest of public order (security).

Question 6

What is Double Jeopardy?

Answer 6

No one who has been acquitted of a crime can be charged for the same crime

Question 7

What is the 6th Amendment?

Answer 7

Guarantees the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury. Guarantees the right of the accused to present their own witnesses and face their accusers. Guarantees the right of the accused to an attorney.

Question 8

What is the 7th Amendment?

Answer 8

All trials in a civil case take place before a jury. Limits the ability of judges to reconsider questions of fact decided by the jury.

Question 9

What are the 3 prongs of the Lemon Test?

Answer 9

1. secular legislative purpose
2. Advances or prohibit religion
3. Excessive entanglement between the state and religion

Question 10

Engel v. Vitale (1964)

Answer 10

ruled mandatory school prayer unconstitutional.

Question 11

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Answer 11

Supreme Court ruled flag-salute law in public schools unconstitutional.

Question 12

Schenk v. United States

Answer 12

the Court ruled criticizing the government and the war is a “clear and present” danger, which is not protected under the 1st Amendment. “Like yelling fire in a crowded theatre.”

Question 13

Brandenburg v. Ohio

Answer 13

the Court ruled “imminent lawlessness.” Hate speech on private property protected by the 1st Amendment, as long as it doesn’t incite violence.

Question 14

Texas v. Johnson

Answer 14

the Court ruled flag burning protected by freedom of symbolic speech.

Question 15

What is the Exclusionary Rule?

Answer 15

A requirement (based on Mapp v. Ohio) that evidence seized during an illegal search and seizure cannot be used as evidence.

Question 16

What is the Sherbert Test?

Answer 16

A standard for deciding if a law violates the free exercise clause. A law will be struck down unless there is a “compelling government interest” at stake and it accomplishes its goal by the “least restrictive means” possible.

Question 17

What is the Undue Burden Test?

Answer 17

Decides whether a law that makes it harder for a woman to seek abortion is constitutional.

Question 18

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 18

Struck down a State law forbidding married individuals using any form of contraception.

Question 19

What is an example of an Undue Burden the Court struck down?

Answer 19

A requirement that a married woman notify her spouse prior to an abortion.

Question 20

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Answer 20

the Court ruled State laws that criminalized sodomy unconstitutional; pertained to consensual sex between homosexual couples.

Question 21

What is the 8th Amendment?

Answer 21

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed. Protection against Cruel and Unusual Punishment.

Question 22

What are Procedural Liberties?

Answer 22

Relate to the protections of people accused of a crime. They are found in the 4th - 8th Amendments.

Question 23

What are Substantiative Liberties?

Answer 23

Found in the first 3 Amendments in the Constitution.

Question 24

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Answer 24

the Court ruled Americans have dual citizenship and the Constitution protects an individual only from the Federal government.

Question 25

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Answer 25

First selective incorporation case. Protected an individual’s freedom of speech from being denied by the State government.

Question 26

Near v. Minnesota (1931)

Answer 26

Second selective incorporation case. Protected the freedom of the press from State and local government.

Question 27

What were the big 3 Procedural Liberties cases in the 1960s?

Answer 27

1. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
2. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
3. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Question 28

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Answer 28

Applied the 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the States. Established the Exclusionary Rule.

Question 29

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Answer 29

Required States to provide free lawyers to individual’s charged with a felony.

Question 30

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Answer 30

Required law enforcement to read an arrested person their rights upon arrest. Includes the right to remain silent, to not testify against yourself, and the right to lawyer.

Question 31

What is important about Political Speech?

Answer 31

It is the most protected form of speech.

Question 32

What was the Alien and Sedition Act?

Answer 32

Acts that made it a crime to criticize the government. Repealed by Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

Question 33

What are the requirements to win in a private citizen libel/slander case?

Answer 33

1. What was said was clearly FALSE
2. It caused significant harm
3. Said with “reckless disregard for the truth”

Question 34

What additional requirement must a public official meet to win a libel/slander case?

Answer 34

4. What was said or written was done with “malicious intent”

Question 35

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 35

the Court ruled women had an unrestricted right to an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, State governments could restrict abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy—but they could not place an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to choose an abortion.

Question 36

What did the Supreme Court rule in regard to seeking abortion?

Answer 36

1. States CAN require a 24-hour waiting period between appointments
2. The government has NO legal obligation to pay for an abortion.
3. Women CANNOT be forced to watch a video of an abortion procedure pre-abortion.
4. Women CANNOT be forced to get her husband’s consent for an abortion.
5. States CAN require a minor to have parental consent to an abortion.