Unit 3 Flashcards
A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.
Writ of habeas corpus
Retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of a person.
Ex post facto law
Due process Clause
Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth
Amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
Selective incorporation
The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth
Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.
ability of the federal government to prevent states from enacting laws that violate some of the basic constitutional rights of American citizens.
Establishment clause
no establisment of state/federal religion 1st amendment
Engel v Vitale
Free Exercise clause
Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of
religion.
Yoder
Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech
unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
Clear and present danger test
Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.
prior restraint
Unprotected Speech
Libel, obscenity, and fighting words which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.
Libel
Written defamation of another person. For public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to restrict libel
actions are especially rigid.
Obscenity
Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently
offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or incite them to acts of violence.
Fighting words
A writ issued by a magistrate that authorizes the police to search a particular place or person, specifying the place to
be searched and the objects to be seized.
Search warrant
Requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.
Exclusionary rule
Due process
Established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.
Procedural due process
Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how (the procedure)
government may exercise power.
Substantive due process
Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves
be fair and reasonable; limits what (the substance) the government may do.
Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government; forbidden by the Constitution.
5th double jeopardy
USA PATRIOT Act
Law created after 9/11 that was intended to help government agencies detect and prevent possible acts of
terrorism, or sponsorship of terrorist groups.
USA FREEDOM Act
Law created in 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of the PATRIOT Act; the act imposes new limits on the bulk collection of telecommunication metadata on U.S. citizens by American intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA).
Grand Jury
A jury of 12 to 23 persons who, in private, hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall
be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed, it issues an indictment.
Petit jury
A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.
A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.
Indictment
Eminent domain
The power of a government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and states
governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property so taken.
natural rights
The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.
Affirmative Action
Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.
Naturalization
A legal action conferring citizenship on an alien.
Equal Protection Clause
Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the
national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against
persons because of race, national origin, or sex.
Literacy Test
Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black
voters in the South; now illegal.
Democratic Party primary in the old “one-party South” that was limited to white people and essentially
constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in 1944.
White primary
Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled
unconstitutional for all elections in 1966.
Poll tax
Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing
opposition.
Civil disobedience
Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.
Class action suit
De jure segregation
Segregation imposed by law.
De facto segregation
Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.
