Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Flashcards
Selective Incorporation
The Supreme Court applying he Bill of Rights to state law on a case-by-base basis
Freedom of Speech
Ability of a person to freely speak out (1st Amendment)
Clear and Present Danger Test
A person is not allowed to falsely scream out words that incite panic without there being an actual threat
Preferred Position Doctrine
Reflects the Court’s belief that freedom of speech is fundamental to liberty; therefore, any limits must address severe, imminent threats to the nation
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Established the clear and present danger test as prohibited speech
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Created the Bad Tendency Doctrine (holds that speech could be restricted even if it only has a tendency to lead to illegal action) and also incorporated freedom of speech into state governments
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Court ruled that schools cannot deny students their constitutional rights when they set foot on public school grounds
Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986)
Gave public school officials the authority to suspend students for speech that is considered lewd or indecent
Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1986)
Parody is not an actionable offense
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Established that burning the American flag is an example of permissible free speech
Morse v. Frederick (2007)
Court ruling in which students’ free speech was limited (Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated by his suspension)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
Established that corporations have a 1st Amendment right to expressly support political candidates for Congress and Presidency
Freedom of the Press
Ability for a person to write anything they want to
Prior Restraint
Government’s efforts to prevent publication on important matters (struck down by Supreme Court)
Shield Laws
Laws that protect reporters in state cases
Miller v. California (1973)
Established a three-part obscenity test (Would a normal person judge it to be explicit?, Does the work lack other value?, Does the work depict sexual behavior offensively?)
Near v. Minnesota (1931)
Established that state injunctions to prevent publication violate the freedom of the press
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
Ruled that if a newspaper prints a false article that they thought to be true at the time, they have not committed libel
New York Times v. U.S. (1971)
Executive efforts to prevent publication violate the 1st Amendment
Hazelwood School v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
Held that school officials have sweeping authority to regulate free speech in student-run newspapers
Freedom of Assembly
Ability to form groups and protest peacefully
Freedom of Association
The government may not restrict the number or type of groups or organizations people belong to, provided those groups do not threaten national security
Thornhill v. Alabama (1940)
Ruled that unions were not unlawful
Cox v. New Hampshire (1941)
Cities and towns could legitimately require parade permits in the interest of public order
Lloyd Corporation v. Tanner (1972)
Ruled that protesters have substantially fewer assembly rights in malls and other private establishments
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)
Allows private organizations to the right of expressive association, meaning they can choose their own membership and expel members based on sexual orientation even if there is legislation that prohibits it
Freedom of Religion
Right of a citizen to practice their own religion (Court weighs right to expression over society’s needs)
Lemon Test
Three part test that helps to decide whether a law violates the Establishment Clause (Does the law have a secular, rather than religious, purpose?, Does the law neither promote nor discourage religion?, Does the law avoid excessive entanglement of the government and religious institutions?)
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools
Abington School Dist. v. Schempp (1963)
Forbids state-mandated reading of the Bible or recitation of prayer in public schools
Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)
Prohibited states from banning the teaching of evolution in public schools
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
Deals with state laws intending to give money to religious schools or causes (Lemon Test is used to determine such laws)
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Held that parents may remove children from public school for religious reasons
Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
States may accommodate otherwise illegal acts done in pursuit of religious belief, but are not required to do so
Weeks v. United States (1914)
Established the exclusionary rule (Illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court)
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
State governments must provide counsel in cases involving the death penalty to those who cannot afford it
Betts v. Brady (1942)
Established that state governments did not have to provide lawyers to indigent defendants in capital cases
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Extended the exclusionary rule to the states
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
All state governments must provide an attorney in all cases for those who cannot afford one (threw out Betts v. Brady)
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
Held that any defendant who asked for a lawyer had to have one granted to him (or any confession garnered after that point would be inadmissible in court)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Found all defendants must be informed of all of their legal rights before they are arrested
Self-Incrimination
Protection stating that a person cannot be forced to testify against themselves in their own trial
Fourteenth Amendment
Right to due process
Fourth Amendment
Limits the power of the government to search for evidence of criminal activity
Probable Cause
Reasoning in which a judge/police officer believes that a search is likely to yield evidence than a search warrant is issued by the judge
Objective Good Faith
Exception which allows for convictions in cases in which a search was not technically legal but was conducted under the assumption that it was a legal search
Inevitable Discovery Rule
Illegally obtained evidence that would eventually have been found legally is still permitted in court
Exigent Circumstances
Reason to believe evidence would disappear by the time a warrant was issued
Sixth Amendment
Right to an attorney in federal cases and right to a speedy trial
Eighth Amendment
Prohibits cruel and unusual punishment
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
The Court ordered a halt to all death penalty punishments in the nation until a less arbitrary method of sentencing was found
Woodson v. North Carolina
Ruled that mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Allowed the death penalty to be used again
Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
Forbids the execution of defendants who are mentally handicapped
Roper v. Simmons (2005)
Declared the death penalty unconstitutional for defendants whose crimes were committed as minors (even if they were charged as adults)
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Proved that the Founders had intended there to be a right to privacy
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Established national abortion guidelines
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
Gave states power to regulate abortion
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
States can regulate abortion but not with regulations that impose an undue burden on women
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
Stated that consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected under the 14th Amendment
The Civil War (1861-1865)
Began partially over the issue of slavery
Emancipation Proclamation
Declared the liberation of slaves in the rebel states
Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
Deemed slavery illegal
Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
Designed to prevent states in the South from depriving newly freed blacks of their rights
Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
Banned laws that would prevent African Americans from voting on the basis of race
Jim Crow Laws
Allowed segregation to occur
Poll Taxes
A tax that must be paid in order to vote
Grandfather Clauses
Exempted restrictions from those whose grandfather’s could have voted
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Made it illegal to base an employee’s pay on race, religion, gender, or national origin
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Banned poll taxes
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ended segregation and states that ignored civil rights mandates could face sever punishment
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Allows the federal government to register voters in states in which 50% of the population is not registered to vote
Civil Rights Act, Title VIII (1968)
Banned racial discrimination in housing
Civil Rights Act of 1991
Allowed job applicants and employees to sue against employers with discriminatory hiring practices
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Allowed separate but equal facilities in the South
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Separate but equal facilities were deemed unconstitutional
Brown v. Board 2nd (1955)
Ordered schools to desegregate with all due and deliberate speed
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc v. United States (1964)
Public places are prohibited from discriminating against African Americans
Katzenback v. McClung (1964)
Established that the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce extends to state discrimination statutes (Businesses could not discriminate against African Americans)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Ruled that quotas requiring a certain percentage of minorities violated the 14th Amendment but held that race-based affirmative action was permissible so long as it was in the service of creating greater diversity
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
Threw out the use of affirmative action by undergraduate schools but upheld the Bakke decision
De Facto Segregation
Segregation that occurred naturally based on neighborhood and district lines
De Jure Segregation
Segregation by law
Affirmative Action Programs
Seek to create special employment opportunities for minorities, women, and other victims of discrimination
Reverse Discrimination
The penalization of the white population
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Allowed for women to take time off after having a child (maternity leave) and allows for both men and women to take time off after major surgery or because of health issues (12 weeks of unpaid leave)
19th Amendment (1920)
Gave women the right to vote
Title IX, Higher Education Act
Prohibits gender discrimination by institutions of higher education that receive federal funds
Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988
Allowed the government to cut off all funding to schools that violate the law
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
Closed a loophole that limited suits on discriminatory pay based on the timing of the issuance of the first discriminatory paycheck
Sexual Harassment
Any sexist or sexual behavior that creates a hostile work environment
Age Discrimination Act of 1967
Prohibits employment discrimination based on age
26th Amendment (1971)
Extended the right to vote to 18 year olds
Voting Rights Act of 1982
Requires states to create congressional districts with minority majorities in order to increase minority representation in the House of Representatives
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Requires businesses with more than twenty-four employees to make their offices accessible to the disabled
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Established judicial review
McCulloh v. Maryland (1819)
First case to use judicial review to strike down congressional legislation
South Dakota v. Dole (1987)
Mandated the 21 year old drinking age by threatening to withhold federal funds to all states that did not comply
United States v. Lopez (1995)
Held that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate guns near state-operated schools
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Ruled that American citizens of Japanese descent could be interned and deprived of basic constitutional rights due to executive order
United States v. Nixon (1974)
Allowed for executive privilege in Court Cases, but forbade it in criminal cases
Clinton v. New York (1998)
Banned the presidential use of a line-item veto as a violation of legislative powers
