Jasmine Elizalde-Chapter 4 Flashcards
The Crown v. Zenger (1735)
Legal case in the colony of New York that is considered a precursor for free press Provisions in the Constitution. The case did not set legal proceedings but did reflect a difference between British authorities and colonists with regard.
Civil Liberties
The personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge by law, Constitution, or judicial interpretation.
Civil rights
The government protected rights of individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government or individuals.
Bill of rights
The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, which largely guarantees specific rights and liberties.
Ninth amendment
Part of the bill of rights that makes it clear that and reading rights in the Constitution and Bill of Rights does not mean that others do not exist.
Tenth amendment
The final part of the bill of rights that defines the basic principle of American federalism in stating that the powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or to the people.
Fourteenth amendment
One of three major amendments enacted after the civil war extending “equal protection of the law” to our citizens.
Due process clause
Class contained in the fifth and fourth amendment; over the years, it has been constructed to guarantee a variety of rights to individuals.
Substantive due process
Judicial interpretation of the fifth and fourteenth amendments due process clause. Protect citizens from arbitrary and unjust state or federal laws.
Sedition laws
Laws that make it illegal to speak or write any political criticism that threaten to diminish respect for the government, it’s loss, or public officials. States addition laws were overturned as a result of the 1925 Gitlow supreme court decision. Laws that make it illegal to speak or write any political criticism that threaten to diminish respect for the government, its laws, or public officials. States sedition laws were overturned as a result of the 1925 Gitlow Supreme Court decision.
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Supreme court case that extended the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of speech and the press to the state governments.
Incorporation doctrine
An interpretation of the Constitution holding that the due process clause of the Fourteenth amendment requires state and local governments to guarantee the right stated in the Bill of Rights.
Selective incorporation
A judicial doctoring whereby most, but not all, protection is found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth amendment.
Fundamental freedoms
Those rights defined by the court as essential to order, liberty, and justice and therefore entitled to the highest standard of review.
Warden court
The period in supreme court history during which Earl Warren served as chief justice (1953-1969), noted for his many rulings expanding civil liberties and civil rights.
Earl Warren
The fourteenth Chief Justice of the United States who served from 1953 to 1969 and led the Court through an important liberal phase; previously a Republican governor and vice presidential nominee.
First Amendment
Part of the Bill of Rights that imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to civil liberties, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
Establishment clause
the first clause of the First Amendment; it directs the national government not to sanction an official religion.
Free exercise clause
the second clause of the First Amendment; it prohibits the U.S. government from interfering with a citizen’s right to practice his or her religion.
Lemon test
Three-part test created by the Supreme Court for examining the constitutionality of religious establishment issues.
Prior restraint
constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting speech or publication before the fact; generally held to be in violation of the First Amendment.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Laws passed in 1798 that allowed the imprisonment and deportation of aliens considered dangerous and criminalized false statements against the government.
Abolitionist
a supporter, especially in the early nineteenth century, of an end to the institution of slavery.
Abraham Lincoln
Sixteenth President of the United States, the first elected Republican president, who served from 1861 - 1865. Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War, was assassinated in 1865 by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.
Espionage Act
A 1917 law that prohibited urging resistance to the draft or distributing anti - war leaflets; by the Supreme Court in Schenck v U.S.
Clear and present danger test
test articulated by the Supreme Court in Schenck v. U.S. to draw the line between protected and unprotected and unprotected speech; the Court looks to see “whether the words used” could “create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive evils” that Congress seeks “to prevent.”
New York Times Co. v. U.S.
The case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. government could not block the publication of secret Department of Defense documents illegally furnished to the Times by anti-war activists. Also called the Pentagon Papers case.
Symbolic speech
symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally considered to be protected by the First Amendment.
Hate speech
communication that belittles a person or group on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or other characteristics.
Miranda v. Arizona
a landmark Supreme Court ruling holding that the fifth amendment requires individuals arrested for a crime to be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counsel present.
Direct incitement test
test articulated by the supreme court in Brandenburg v. Ohio holding that the First Amendment protects advocacy of illegal action useless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur.
Miranda rights
statements required of police that inform a suspect of his or her constitutional rights protected by the Fifth Amendment, including the right to an attorney provided by a court if the suspect cannot afford one.
Burger Court
the period in Supreme Court history during which Warren Burger served as Chief Justice.
Warren E. Burger
the fifteenth chief justice of the US who served from 1969-1986 and who led the court in an increasingly conservative direction
Double jeopardy clause
part of the fifth amendment that protects individuals from being tried twice for the same offense in the same jurisdiction.
Exclusionary rule
judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial.
Sixth amendment
part of the bill of rights that sets out the basic requirements of procedural due process for federal courts to follow in criminal trials. These include speedy and public trials, impartial juries, trials in the state where the crime was committed, notice of the charges, the right to confront and obtain favorable witnesses and the right to counsel.
Capital cases
court cases in which a conviction may result in the application of the death penalty.
Eight amendment
part of the bill of rights that states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”
Right to privacy
the right to be left alone; a judicially created principle encompassing a variety of individual actions protected by the penumbras cast by several constitutional amendments, including the First, Third, ninth and fourteenth amendments.
Roe v. Wade (1973)
the supreme court found that a woman’s right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied form specific guarantees found in the Bill of RIghts applied to the states thorugh the Fourteenth Amendment.
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992)
the supreme court’s decision in this abortion casae replaced the strict scrutiny standard of Roe with the less stringent undue burden standard.
Undue burden test
a standard set by the supreme court in the Casey case in 1992 that narrowed Roe v. Wadeand allowed for greater regulation of abortion by the states.
Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016)
supreme court abortion ruling tha struckt down state law provisions in Teas as presenting an undue bureen on women seeking aboritions. This decision invalidated numerous state and local laws that imposed similar limitations on clinics.
Hate speech
communication that belittles a person or group on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or other characteristics.
Occupy Wall Street
a recent social movement that promotes protest and political activism against income inequality and corporate greed.
Black lives matter
a recent social movement focused on direct protest and activism against police brutality, mass incarceration, and related offenses against African Americans.
Libel
false written statements that defames a person’s character.
Slander
untrue spoken statements that defame the character of a person.
New York Times Co. V. Sullivan (1964)
case in which the Supreme Court concluded that “actual malice” must be proven to support a finding of libel against a public figure.
Fighting words
words that “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace.” Fighting words are not subject to the protections of the first amendment.
Miller V. California
Supreme Court cases that creates the “Miller test” to determine when sexually explicit expression was obscene and therefore beyond the protection of the first amendment.
Dejonge V. Oregon
Supreme Court case that applied the First Amendment protections of freedom of assembly to the states.
Eighteen amendment
a 1913 amendment that created the nationwide prohibition on alcoholic beverages; it was repeated in 1933.
Writs of habeas corpus
petition requesting that a judge order authorities to prove that a prisoner is being held lawfully and that allows the prisoner to be freed if the governments case does not persuade the judge. Haveas corpus rights imply that prisoners have a right to know that charges are being made against them.
Ex post facto law
law that makes an act punishable as a crime even if the action was legal at the time it was committed.
Bill of attainder
a law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.
Due process rights
protections drawn from the fourth amendment and the bill of rights. Due process may be procedural, ensuring fair treatment, or substantive, protecting fundamental mental rights.
Fourth amendment
part of the bill of rights that protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers, and effects without a warrant from a judge among other guarantees.
Fifth amendment
part of the bill of rights that imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to the rights of persons suspected of committing a crime. It provides for indictment by a grand jury and protection against self incrimination, and prevents the national government from denying a person life, liberty or property without the due process of law. It also prevents the national government from taking property without just compensation.
Grand Jury
A group of citizens charged with determining whether enough evidence exists for a case to go to trial. Guaranteed by the Fifth amendment.
