Unit 3 Test Flashcards
Civil Liberties
Protections from the abuse or government power
Civil Rights
Protections from discrimination based on race, gender, or other minority status
Selective incorporation
Applying the Bill of Rights to state law on a case-by-case basis
Clear and present danger test
Speech posing an immediate/serious threat to national security is not protected by first amendment
Libel
Printed defamation (falsely attacking a person’s good name/character)
Slander
Spoken defamation (falsely attacking a person’s good name/character)
Obscenity
Anything that depicts sexual activity in an offensive matter
Prior restraint
When the government censors/suppresses material before it’s published
Indictment
Formally charges a person with a criminal offense
Preferred position doctrine
Reflects the court’s belief that freedom of speech is fundamental to liberty
Shield laws
Allow reporters to conceal their sources of info in state cases (this is a state law not a federal law)
Three-part obscenity test
- Is it appealing primarily to people’s baser sexual instincts?
- Does it lack other values like literary or artistic value?
- Does it depict sexual behavior in an offensive manner
Freedom of association
As long as groups do not threaten national security, the government cannot restrict the number or types of groups people belong to
Free exercise
Government cannot prevent individuals from practicing their religion
The establishment clause
Prevents government from establishing a state religion
Lemon test
Determined whether a law violates the establishment clause:
1. Does it have secular (not religious) purpose?
2. Does it neither promote nor discourage religion?
3. Does it avoid excessive entanglement of government and religious institutions?
Probable cause
Reasonable grounds for making a search (need this in order to obtain a search warrant)
Search warrant
Limits where police may search and they may take as evidence (is signed by a judge)
Exclusionary rule
Illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court
Objective good faith
Exception of exclusionary rule which allows use of illegally obtained evidence if the police officer believed their conduct was lawful and acted in good objective faith
Inevitable discovery rule
Exception of exclusionary rule where illegally obtained evidence that would have eventually been found legally is admissible in court
Exigent circumstances
Allows police to conduct an immediate search if they have a reason to believe evidence would disappear by the time they received a warrant and returned
Grand jury
Is guaranteed when a suspect is held for a crime; they determine whether there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime
Double jeopardy
Prohibits people from being prosecuted for the same crime more than once
Eminent domain
The right of the government to seize property for public use if seizure can be justly compensated
Due process of law
Fair treatment through judicial system is entitled to citizens
Self-incrimination
Right to remain silent; cannot be forced to say or do something that shows you are guilty of a crime
Habeas corpus
Cannot be held in prison without a trial or legal reason to extend detention
Implied right to privacy
1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th amendments add up to guarantee of privacy
Poll taxes
Tax that must be paid in order to vote (blacks had to pay this)
Grandfather clauses
To allow poor, illiterate whites to vote, states passed these clauses that exempted from voting restrictions anyone whose grandfather had voted
De facto segregation
Segregation not by law but by others factors (residential housing patterns)
De jure segregation
Segregation by law
Affirmative action
Sets of practices seeking to included underrepresented groups in education and employment
Reverse discrimination
The act of penalizing whites by adding more opportunities for minorities
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Mothers and fathers are given the right to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work after giving birth
Equal Rights Amendment
Was never ratified but its goal was to guarantee equal rights for women
Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988
Allowed the government to cut all funding to schools that violate the law of no gender discrimination
Institutional racism
racism embedded as normal practice within society/organization
intersectionality
interconnected nature of social categorization in an overlap causing discrimination or a disadvantage (race, class, and gender)
