Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Question 1

Civil Rights

Answer 1

Protections from discrimination as a member of a particular group

Question 2

Civil Liberties

Answer 2

fundamental rights and freedoms protected from infringement by the government

Question 3

Habeas Corpus

Answer 3

A document setting out reasons for an arrest or detention

Question 4

Ex Post Facto Laws

Answer 4

Laws criminalizing conduct that was legal at the time it occurred

Question 5

Bills of Attainder

Answer 5

a law passed by Congress punishing an individual without a trial

Question 6

Due Process Clause

Answer 6

The clause in the fourteenth amendment that restricts state governments from denying citizens their life, liberty, or property without legal safeguards

Question 7

Selective Incorporation

Answer 7

The piecemeal process through which the Supreme Court has affirmed that almost all of the protections within the Bill of Rights also apply to state governments

Question 8

Establishment Clause

Answer 8

First Amendment Protection against the government requiring citizens to join or support a religion

Question 9

Free Exercise Clause

Answer 9

First Amendment protection of the rights of individuals to exercise and express their religious beliefs

Question 10

Prior Restraint

Answer 10

The suppression of material prior to publication on the grounds that it might endanger national security

Question 11

Clear and Present Danger Test

Answer 11

Legal standard that speech posing an immediate and serious threat to national security

Question 12

Libel

Answer 12

An untrue written statement that injures a person’s reputation

Question 13

Obscenity

Answer 13

Words, images, or videos that depict sexual activity in an offensive manner and that lack any artistic merit

Question 14

Lemon Test

Answer 14

A test determining if a government action violates the Establishment Clause of the constitution, cannot lack a secular purpose, its primary effect cannot promote or inhibit religion, and it cannot foster an excessive entanglement of government with religion.

Question 15

Symbolic Speech

Answer 15

Protected expression in the form of images, signs, and other symbols

Question 16

Exclusionary Rule

Answer 16

A rule that evidence obtained without a warrant is inadmissible in court

Question 17

Right to Privacy

Answer 17

an element of various legal traditions to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals

Question 18

Eminent Domain

Answer 18

the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation

Question 19

Equal Protection Clause

Answer 19

A clause taken from the fourteenth amendment that prohibits any state from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

Question 20

Suffrage

Answer 20

The right to vote in political elections

Question 21

De Facto Segregation

Answer 21

Racial segregation that is not supported by law, not intentional effort to keep the races apart, but be result of natural conditions, or due to the gulf between financial classes.

Question 22

De Jure Segregation

Answer 22

Illegal segregation that is imposed by law; such as the Jim Crow Laws

Question 23

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 23

The Supreme Court sided with the state’s right to segregate the races in public places, claiming “separate but equal” facilities satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 24

Jim Crow Laws

Answer 24

A law separating blacks and whites on trains, in theaters, in public restrooms, and in public schools.

Question 25

Poll Tax

Answer 25

A simple fee required of voters

Question 26

Brown v Board of Education

Answer 26

The Supreme Court put forth arguments found in social science research that the racially segregated system did damage to the black child’s psyche and instilled feelings of inferiority. The inevitably unequal schools - unequal financially, unequal in convenience of location - created significant difference between the two schools.

Question 27

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 27

A landmark civil rights and labor law in the US that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.

Question 28

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 28

The law empowered Congress and the federal government to oversee state elections in Southern states. This law ended the literacy test.

Question 29

Dawes Act of 1887

Answer 29

Authorized the President to subdivide Native American tribal landholding into allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals. Also opened up remaining Native land for appropriation by white settlers

Question 30

MALDEF

Answer 30

the Mexican American Legal Defense and. Educational Fund is a non-profit civil rights organization formed to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States

Question 31

Equal Rights Amendment

Answer 31

A proposed amendment to the constitution stating that civil rights may not be denied on the basis of one’s sex

Question 32

Reasonableness Scrutiny

Answer 32

Treats sexes differently and allows for a gender bias

Question 33

Inherently Suspect Scrutiny

Answer 33

The government must show that the challenged classification serves a compelling state interest and that the classification is necessary to serve that interest.

Question 34

Glass Ceiling

Answer 34

An unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities

Question 35

American with Disabilities Act of 1990

Answer 35

A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of life

Question 36

Affirmative Action

Answer 36

An active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups an women sought to achieve a multicultural staff

Question 37

Reverse Discrimination

Answer 37

The practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously

Question 38

Bakke vs. California

Answer 38

This case addressed the medical school and its admission policy. Allan Bakke was denied admission and sued to contest the policy. He discovered that his test scores and application in general were better than some of the minorities and women who were admitted ahead of him. He argued the equal protection clause. The court ruled the reverse discrimination unconstitutional.