Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Question 0

Due Process Clause 14th Amend

Answer 0

Protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property as guaranteed in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Question 1

Clear and Present Danger

Answer 1

Legal interpretation that reconciled two views of the First Amendment right of free speech, the first that Congress could not pass any law to restrict speech and the second that it could punish harms caused by speech.

Question 2

Establishment Clause

Answer 2

A clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution stating that Congress shall make no law “respecting an establishment of Religion”

Question 3

Exclusionary Rule

Answer 3

Rule that holds that evidence gathered in violation of the Constitution cannot be used in a trial.

Question 4

Freedom of Expression

Answer 4

Constitutional Rights of Americans to “Freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”

Question 5

Freedom of Religion

Answer 5

Religious rights of Americans outlined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or abridging the free exercise thereof.”

Question 6

Free Exercise Clause

Answer 6

Clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution stating that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the “free exercise” of religion.

Question 7

Good Faith Exception

Answer 7

Admission at a trial of evidence that is gathered in violation of the Constitution if the violation results from a technical or minor error

Question 8

Hate Crime

Answer 8

Occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group.

Question 9

Libel

Answer 9

A written statement that falsely injures the reputation of another person

Question 10

McCarthyism

Answer 10

Charges that unfairly or dishonestly tarnish the motives, attack the patriotism, or violate the rights of individuals, especially of political opponents. Refers to the numerous unsubstantiated accusations of communism made against public and private individuals by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s i.e. “Red Scare”

Question 11

Miranda Warnings

Answer 11

Is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings.

Question 12

Obscenity

Answer 12

Is used to describe words, images or actions that offend the sexual morality most people have or had at the time.

Question 13

Prior Restraint

Answer 13

Traditional view of the press’s free speech rights as expressed by William Blackstone, the great English jurist. According to this view the press is guaranteed freedom from censorship-that is, rules telling it in advance what it can publish.

Question 14

Probably Cause

Answer 14

Good reason exists that a crime has been committed and that the evidence bearing on the crime will be found at a certain location

Question 15

Search Warrant

Answer 15

An order from a judge authorizing the search of a place; the order must describe what is to be searched and seized

Question 16

Symbolic Speech

Answer 16

An act that conveys a political message, such as burning a draft card to protest the draft

Question 17

Wall of Separation Principle

Answer 17

A Supreme Court interpretation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment that prevents government involvement with religion, even on a non-preferential basis

Question 18

Affirmative Action

Answer 18

The requirement, imposed by law or administrative regulation, that an organization take positive steps to increase the number or proportion of women, AFrican Americans, or other minorities in its membership.

Question 19

Alien

Answer 19

In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.

Question 20

Compensatory Action

Answer 20

An action designed to help members of disadvantaged groups, especially minorities and women, catch up, usually by giving them extra eduction, training, or services

Question 21

De Facto Segregation

Answer 21

Racial segregation in schools that occurs not because of laws or administrative decisions, but as a result of patterns of residential settlement. To the extent that blacks and whites live in separate neighborhoods, neighborhood schools will often be segregated de facto.

Question 22

De Jure Segregation

Answer 22

Racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies. When state laws, for example, required blacks and whites to attend separate schools or sit in separate sections of a bus.

Question 23

Equality of Opportunity

Answer 23

A view that it is wrong to use race or sex either to discriminate against or give preferential treatment to minorities or women.

Question 24

Equality of Results

Answer 24

Making certain that people achieve the same result.

Question 25

Hyde Amendment

Answer 25

Is a legislative provision barring the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions with exceptions for incest and rape.

Question 26

Jim Crow

Answer 26

A slang expression for African Americans that emerged in the 1820’s and came to signify the laws and governmental practices designed to segregate blacks from whites, especially in the American South.

Question 27

Nonviolent Civil Disobedience

Answer 27

A philosophy of opposing a law one considers unjust be peacefully violating it and allowing oneself to be punished as a result

Question 28

Preferential Treatment

Answer 28

Job or employment preference given to someone who is of the right race, ethnicity, or gender

Question 29

Reverse Discrimination

Answer 29

Using race or sex to give preferential treatment to some minorities over white people.

Question 30

Separate but equal doctrine

Answer 30

The doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a state could provide “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans

Question 31

Strict Scrutiny

Answer 31

The standard by which the Supreme Court judges classifications based on race. To be accepted such a classification must be closely related to a “compelling” public purpose.

Question 32

Suspect Classification

Answer 32

Classifications of people on the basis of their race and ethnicity. The Courts have ruled that laws classifying people on these grounds will be subject to “strict scrutiny”