Civil Rights And Civil Liberties Flashcards
What are civil rights?
Constitutional guarantees of equal opportunity and protection such as free speech, freedom from unwarranted searches, fair trials, and the right to vote.
What are civil liberties?
Freedoms guaranteed to individuals in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights; these liberties restrain or stop government from taking particular actions, thus protecting individual choices. Civil Liberties are proscriptions (limits) on govt’s power.
What do the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution state, generally?
That no person can be deprived of their life, liberty, or property without the due process of law.
With the Fifteenth Amendment voting rights became?
Nationalized
What is a list of voting right amendments?
Race, color, or previous condition of servitude
Popular election of U.S. senators
Women’s suffrage
District of Columbia granted Electoral College vote
Voting cannot be denied for failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax
Voting cannot be denied by the fed or state gov’t for citizens 18 or older if otherwise eligible to vote
Difference between a right and a liberty?
If the government is supposed to be doing something = Right
If the government is supposed to leave you alone = Liberty
What is the Thirteenth Amendment?
Makes slavery and involuntary servitude illegal.
What is the Fourteenth Amendment?
Perhaps the most important amendment ever. A formal definition of national citizenship and states necessity to respect that. granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”
Due process of law, and equal protection of the law
What is the Fifteenth Amendment?
Prohibits the denial of voting rights on account of RACE, COLOR, OR PREVIOUS CONDITION OF SERVITUDE. This essentially granted newly freed African American males the right to vote.
The Nineteenth Amendment?
1920, prohibits the denial of voting rights on account of sex.
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment
1964, prohibits the denial or abridgment of voters in primary or vernal elections, when voting for president or a member of Congress, because of a failure to pay any poll tax, or any other tax.
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment
1971, prohibits the denial or abridgment OC voting for any person 18 years of age or older.
When was the Age Discrimination in EMPLOYMENT Act (ADEA) passed?
1967, prohibits discrimination against persons 40 years of age or older in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation or terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.
When was the Age Discrimination Act passed?
1975, prohibits discrimination on the basis of age in programs and activities and receive federal assistance, such as in education, healthcare, housing, and rehabilitation programs.
When were the Racial Discrimination Acts passed?
1957 CRA
1964 CRA
1965 VRA
1968 FHA (Title VIII)
The Fifteenth Amendment?
Voting rights of racial minorities
Twenty-Sixth Amendment?
18 years old or older to vote
Nineteenth-Amendment?
Prohibits voting discrimination based on sex
Which two amendments are supported by the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
15 and 24
What are the different types of scrutiny?
Rational basis test
Intermediate scrutiny test
Strict scrutiny test
What is the rational basis test?
Used in most discrimination cases, the govt has to demonstrate only that it has a good reason for engaging in it.
What is Immediate Scrutiny?
When discrimination is based on gender or sex and is substantially related to an important governmental objective.
Craig v. Boren and Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan
In what types of cases does strict scrutiny occur?
- Cases in which a fundamental constitutional right is infringed upon, such as the freedom of speech or religion
- Cases in which govt action applies to a “suspect classification” such as race or national origin
The burden of proof is on the govt to show that the discrimination is necessary, that there is a compelling interest, but also requires the govt to show that it has “narrowly tailored” the law or policy to achieve this interest, using the “least restrictive means” available
What did Dred Scott v. Sanford accomplish?
Blacks were legally inferior to Whites
What year did GB outlaw slavery?
1833
In what year was the Emancipation Proclamation and what did it do?
1863
Applied only to slaves residing in states which rebelled and were not yet under the occupation of Union forces. This had little real effect on the abolishment of slavery in the U.S.
When was the Reconstruction period?
1865-1877
What amendment abolished slavery?
Thirteenth
Fifteenth Amendment?
First constitutional protection on voting, prohibiting the use of race, color, or previous condition of servitude to abridge this right
What did Plessy v. Ferguson establish?
Separate but equal
When did the Civil Rights Movement occur?
1954-1968 and can be traced back to the early part of the 20th century
When did the NAACP first begin challenging Jim Crow laws?
1930’s
Why was Brown v. Board important?
Reversed itself, overruling separate but equal established in Plessy v. Ferguson. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
What are civil liberties?
An expression of the social contract, and includes limitations on govt power, intended to protect freedoms that govts may not legally intrude on.
Liberty is where government is prohibited from acting. A liberty is something we are free to do, without restriction or denial from outsiders.
Civil liberties differ from civil rights in that…..
They are more intimate to our existence. Liberty is something more important in defining your identity.
What are some liberties?
Exercise of religion, speech, press, bearing arms, peaceable assembly, petition govt for redress of grievances, and all things inalienable such as, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
What is habeas corpus?
A fundamental liberty that compels the govt to justify someone’s detention, which it must do in open court before a neutral judge
What is an ex post facto law?
One that retroactivity makes an activity illegal
What is a bill of attainder?
When a legislature uses its power to declare a person guilty of some crime
What’s the only crime listed in the Constitution?
Treason, which was a tool used to punish those who challenged the Constitution.
What amendments lay out the process for prosecution and conviction?
5-8
What is the gist of the Ninth amendment?
The listing of rights or liberties in the Constitution doesn’t mean we are giving up our claims to any rights or liberties not on the list
What is the Tenth amendment?
Any power not delegated to the federal government remains in the hands of the state or the people
What amendment is for those suspected of a crime?
Fourth
What amendment is for those accused of a crime?
Fifth, sixth, and eighth
What amendment is for those convicted of a crime?
Eighth
What is specifically outlined in the Fourth amendment?
Protection from unreasonable intrusions, search and seizure
What was decided in Mapp v. Ohio?
Evidenced obtained without a warrant that didn’t fall under one of the exceptions mentioned above could not be used as evidence in a state criminal trial.
What are your rights under the Fifth amendment?
A grand jury indictment for serious crimes
Double jeopardy
Your life, liberty, or property cannot be taken without due process
Provides for compensation to be given for the taking of private property for public use
What are exceptions for grand jury indictments?
Applies only to felonies, generally
Federal only, not for states
When doesn’t double jeopardy apply?
At different levels of government
What is perhaps the most famous provision of the Fifth amendment?
Protection against self-incrimination, the right to remain silent
Also due process
What are your rights under the Sixth amendment?
Speedy and public trial
Entitled to an impartial jury
Trial to take place where crime was committed
Entitled to know what the crime you are accused of
Entitled to confront any witnesses against you
Entitled to compel people to testify on your behalf
Entitled to have an attorney present to assist in your defense
What is a statutory right?
Granted to you in a law or statute
What is void dire?
The questioning of potential jurors to determine their fitness to sit on a jury. The term is French, meaning, to speak the truth.
What are your rights under the Eighth amendment?
Protected from excessive bail
Excessive fines
Cruel and unusual punishment
What are some punishments listed as cruel and unusual?
The unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain, such as torture, drawing and quartering, disemboweling while alive, beheading, public dissection, or burning alive.
What are the permissible methods of carrying out the death penalty?
Lethal injection
Electrocution
Gas chamber
Hanging
Firing squad
