Unit 3 Flashcards
Civil Liberties
Personal freedoms protected from the government from deprivation: protected in the Bill of Rights
Due Process
Ensures fairness that rights are protected from the government
- ensures that states can’t infringe on peoples rights/liberties without due process of the law
- 14th Amendment
Selective Incorporation
The process of declaring certain/selected provisions from the Bill of Rights and applying them to the states by provision
Compelling Government Interest
There can be restrictions on what you want to say
- ex a threat
- a compelling interest to protect safety
Prior Restraint
Stopping something before it happens
ex. you hand in a speech and the person checking says you have to change something before you present
- the government stopping harmful speech before it happens
Clear and Present Danger Test
Schenck v US
- no longer followed; updated; back then, if your speech would present a clear and present danger to society or gvmnt then it can be restricted
Imminent and Lawless Action Test
Brandenburg v Ohio
- only if speech can lead to lawlessness - happening now or likely to occur then it can be limited
Symbolic Speech
Speech not spoken
- posters, signs, etc
People can’t invoke symbol speech to defend an act that otherwise be illegal
- ex. you can’t walk taken to protest textiles
- can’t burn or desecrate US (US v Eichmann and Texas v Johnson)
Preferred Position Doctrine
There is an hierarchy of Constitutional rights
- some civil rights are more important than others
Time, Place, and Manner Test
the time, place, and manner of your speech can be restricted
Government regulations that place restrictions on free speech, specifying the above and whether it is okay
Obscenity
Some language and images are so offensive that governments have banned them
First Amendment doesn’t protect it and not full defined
ex. explicit lyrics or porn
Non-protected Speech
Libel/Slander
Obscenity
Fighting Words
Lying commercial speech
Libel/Slander
- Gotta be factually untrue
- has to be intended to cause harm
- actually caused harm
Libel: printed - Slander: spoken
Sedition
Talking smack on the government but more low-key then treason or espionage, isn’t really much of a thing anymore because you can openly talk against the government
Fighting Words
When you threaten someone
- since you are putting someone in potential psychical harm
- assault (threatening someone physical harm)
Commercial Speech
Suggesting/lying/implying to deceive consumers
- like regulations on food labels
Civil Disobedience
Opposing a law one considers unjust by peacefully disobeying it and accepting the resulting punishment
- Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks
Establishment Clause
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
- no official religion
- no states can establish religion
Free Exercise Clause
Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of any religion
Vouchers
School or state is giving money for their taxes and giving it to the parent for them to use for things like a private school
Procedural vs Substantive Due Process
Procedural: refers to the process used to try and convict defendants accused of crimes
Substantive: principle allowing courts to prevent government interference with fundamental rights
Search Warrants
Document needed to search a suspect’s house, car, belongings, etc
- probable cause is needed
- cops need these from judges
Plain View and Other Exceptions
-Good Faith: While searching for something, you found something unrelated you can use it!!
-Consent to searching but they’ll make you wait while waiting for a warrant
-Emergency: hear or see something that could be a potential emergency
-Plain View: if it’s in plain sight
Self-Incrimination
5th Amendent
individuals accused of a crime have the right refuse potentially incriminating things with things like words and testimonies from themselves to themselves
Indictment
5th Amendment
Precedes a trial; being arrested for a crime; government has to show enough evidence to a grand jury - you won’t be tried unless indicted
Double Jeopardy
5th Amendment
Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government, protected against this
Right to Privacy
9th Amendment: all rights not mentioned (1-8) go to the people
Cases related:
Griswold v CT, Roe v Wade, Dobbs v Jackson Woman’s Health
Civil Rights
Your protection from discrimination
- stems from Equal Protection Clause
Equal Protection Clause
14th Amendment
All American citizens have equal protection under law
- no state shall deprive someone of equal protection of law
Jim Crow Laws
Things like, in this place only white people can sit here
- segregation of schools
separate but equal (enforced by Plessy v Ferguson)
- literacy tests
- payment for things
- primaries were only white only
Racial Gerrymandering
Drawing district lines based on race - illegal
Poll Tax
Paying to vote to prevent black people living in lower income areas from voting
Literacy Tests
Tests of literacy to vote in order to prevent black people with no education from voting
White Primaries
flat out discrimination - primaries were white only
- primaries were important because they elect the head of the party
Segregation
Separate but equal
- technically equal treatment, but they were separated
- not the case
Woman’s Suffrage
Movement for women’s equal rights and opportunities
Majority-Minority Districts
A racial or ethnic minority makes up a large enough area to assure the community has a chance to elect candidates of their race
Affirmative Action
Take positive steps to fix a problems
- recognize inequality and promote the realization of equal opportunity for woman and minorities
- grey area because once you give someone an advantage, how do you make sure scales don’t tip the other way
De Jure Segregation
In law
- what is challenged in civil rights
- no person shall be denied equal protection of law
- laws such as segregating schools
De Fact Segregation
In Fact
- happens in reality, people group together around characteristics
- think chinatown and little Italy - Diaspora
- not government policy
Texas v Johnson - 1989
1st Amendment Symbolic Speech
Protested Reagan administration, burned flag symbolically while protesters chanted
- 5-4 for Johnson
- symbolic speech was preserved, outweighed interest in preserving the flag
Brandenburg v Ohio -1969
1st Amendment Free Speech
Ohio had laws against advocation of crime, sabotage, violence, or assembling a group to do so
- went against Brandenburg free speech
- unanimous decision for shithead
tests to evaluate speech
- imminent lawless action
Kennedy v Bremerton - 2022
1st Amendment Establishment and Free Exercise
Engaged in prayer solo and students eventually joined - school board got word
- avoid issues with Establishment they trampled on his Free exercise
- ruled in favor of coach and replaced Lemon test and endorsement test, knocked down - created gray area of what the gvt can and can’t do when it comes to religion
Mapp v Ohio - 1961
4th Amendment Search and Seizure
Bombing in Cleveland
- if you find evidence through illegal methods, it has to be excluded from trial and can not be used against defendant
- with exceptions
New Jersey v TLO - 1985
4th Amendment Search and Seizure
TLO - high school who was searched out of suspicion of possession of cigarettes and found those and weed
- exclusionary apply to schools
rules in favor of New Jersey saying that if there was reason, schools could conduct warrantless searches
Miranda v Arizona - 1966
5th Amendment Rights to the Accused
Police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning
Griswold v CT - 1965
9th Amendment Right to Privacy
Connecticut tried to ban contraceptives
SCOTUS ruled their ban violated right to privacy
Roe v Wade - 1973
9th Amendment Right to Privacy
If you can have privacy in your head and home, you can have privacy in your own body
- you can seek abortion
Dobbs v Jackson - 2022
9th Amendment Right to Privacy
Overturned Roe v Wade
- any state can restrict or deny a women’s right to an abortion
Plessy v Ferguson - 1896
Plessy (white) sat in a black only car, got fined (Ferg)
- SCOTUS rules separate but equal, Plessy couldn’t do that, had to sit in white areas only
- made Segregation by law okay
Civil Rights of 1964
Addressed voting
prevented racial discrimination and segregation; ended the power of Jim Crow laws
Title IX - Equal Opportunity in Education Act of 1972
No person of the US will be discriminated
- guaranteed women have the same educational opportunities in programs for federal funding
Obergefell v Hodges - 2015
Legalized gay marriage - protected by Due process and Equal Protection
UCal v Bakke - 1978
Uni of Cal’s use of racial quotas in admissions process was unlawful
Students for Fair Admission v Harvard - 2023
Asian american applicants to Harvard grew but percent in Harvard didn’t
- applicants will not have to check boxes for race, race won’t be relevant in anyway for college
