Unit 3 Test Flashcards
What are civil liberties?
Freedoms guaranteed by the BOR
What is the Bill of Rights?
The first 10 Amendments of the Constitution
What does the Bill of Rights do?
Limits the power of the government to protect individual freedoms and liberties
What do civil liberties do?
Protects us against abuse from the government to protect individual freedoms and liberties
What are civil rights?
Rights that guarantee freedom of equality for any race, gender, or other demographic group
What are individual rights?
Constitutional rights protected by the law
What does the First Amendment Protect?
Religion, speech, the press, expression, assembly, and petition
What are the important cases of the First Amendment Freedom of Religion
Engel v Vitale / Wisconsin v Yoder
Engel v Vitale (1962)
○ Group of Jewish families sued a NY school district for having a prayer in
the morning
○ Supreme Court ruled that prayer violated the establishment clause
Wisconsin v Yoder (1972)
○ An Amish family sued Wisconsin for requiring them to pay a fine for not
sending their children to school after the eighth grade
○ Supreme Court ruled in favor of the family saying that they were protected
under the First Amendment free exercise clause
What does the First Amendment Freedom of Religion do
○ Prevents the government from establishing a religion
○ Government cannot prevent an individual from practicing their
faith/religion
What does the Establishment Clause do?
○ Government cannot support an official religion
○ Government cannot force an individual to follow a religion
○ Promotes separation of church and state
What does the Free Exercise Clause say?
○ Government cannot interfere w/ an individual’s religion or its practices
■ Limitations include polygamy, drug use, etc.
What is the Lemon Test?
A test to determine if a law violates the establishment clause
What is the criteria to pass the Lemon Test?
■ Has a legitimate secular purpose
■ Does not advance or inhibit religion
■ Does not have “excessive entanglement” with religion
What are important cases of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) / Schenck v. United States (1919)
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
○ Students were suspended for wearing black armbands in protest of the
Vietnam War
○ Supreme Court ruled that armbands were a form of symbolic speech
■ Protected under the first amendment
Schenck v. United States (1919)
○ During WWI, a man was arrested for handing out a flier that urged men to
resist the draft and not enlist
○ Arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917
■ Schenck argued that his arrest violated his freedom of Speech
○ Supreme Court ruled against Schenck, stating that speech inciting “clear
and present danger” was not protected by the first amendment
What does the First Amendment Freedom of Expression guarantee
Freedom to speech and nonverbal symbolic speech
What does the principle of Clear and Present Danger mean
Government can only restrict/ punish speech that incites lawless action
What is symbolic speech
=Nonverbal forms of speech (ie. signs, symbolic protest (burning the American flag)
What is hate speech
Written or spoken speech that degrades a group based on its characteristics
What is obscenity
Lewd o/ sexual publication that lack literary or artistic merit
Defamation definition
Damaging one’s reputation by making false statement
What is the Espionage Act (1917)
Banned opposition to US operation or supporting US enemies during wartime
What is an importnant case in the First Amendment Freedom of the Press?
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
○ Government attempted to prevent the New York Times from publishing
the pentagon papers
○ Supreme Court ruled that the New York Times were protected by the First
Amendment Freedom of the Press
What is Freedom of the Press?
Right to publish/ disperse information or opinions without government
censorship
What is libel?
Damaging an individual’s reputation by printing false statements
What are the Pentagon Papers?
○ Top-secret document leaked to the New York Times
○ Discussed US military involvement in Vietnam
■ Proved President Lyndon B. Johnson lied to Congress and the
people about the extent of the Vietnam War
What is prior restraint?
○ Government’s attempt suppress harmful information before publication
■ Typically, courts will declare government attempts as
unconstitutional
What are important cases in the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms?
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) / McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
Granted individuals the right to own handguns in their homes in D.C.
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
○ McDonald wanted to purchase a handgun but was barred by Chicago’s
handgun regulation
○ McDonald argued that restrictions violated the due process clause
○ Supreme Court ruled in favor of McDonald
■ Stopped gun control laws in Chicago
What is the Second Amendment?
Right to bear arms (own weapons)
What is selective incorporation?
○ Based on the due process clause
○ Process of applying the protections from the Bill of Rights into state law
○ States cannot pass law that violate constitutional rights
What Amendments deal with balancing individual freedom with public order and safety?
Fourth and Eighth
What is the Fourth Amendment?
-Protects against unreasonable search and seizures
■ Requires probable cause
What is the eighth amendment?
Protects against cruel and unusual punishment, as well as excessive bail
and fines
What is the Rule of Law?
○ No one individual is above the law, including the government
○ Every citizen follows the same law
What are important cases of Selective Incorporations?
Gideon v Wainwright (1963) / Roe v Wade (1973)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
○ Supreme Court incorporated the sixth amendment (right to legal counsel)
to the state level
○ States must provide counsel to defendant’s that cannot afford one
Roe v Wade (1973)
○ Roe wanted to obtain an abortion in Texas but could not do so legally or
safely
○ Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s choice to terminate pregnancy during
the first trimester was her right under the right to privacy
■ Incorporated to all states
■ Made it unconstitutional for a state to criminalize abortion
What does the fourteenth amendment guarantee?
○ All people born or naturalized in the US are citizens of the US and the
state they reside in
○ Explicitly guaranteed selective incorporation
■ Before this amendment protections were only explicitly guaranteed
on a federal level
What is Due Process?
-Government (state or federal) must respect all legal rights of an individual
■ Protected federally by the fifth amendment and at the state level
by the fourteenth amendment
What are fundamental rights?
○ Rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and interpretations by the Supreme
Court
○ Respected by both federal and state government
What are important cases in Due Process and the Rights of the Accused?
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) / Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
○ Ernesto Miranda confessed to kidnapping and rape
○ Under the fourteenth amendment Miranda was deprived of his right to
due process by not informing him of his right to remain silent
○ Established the Miranda rights
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
-Supreme Court incorporated the sixth amendment (right to legal counsel)
to the state level
-States must provide counsel to defendant’s that cannot afford one
Due Process Clause
Due Process Clause
○ Prevents federal and state government from denying one’s right to “life, liberty, and justice” without respecting an individual’s legal rights or
following proper procedures
What are Miranda Rights?
○ Requirement that law enforcement must inform an individual subject to
interrogation their right to remain silent
■ Protects against self-incrimination
What is the public safety exception?
An exception to the Miranda Rights is if the information provided
during an unwarned interrogation relates to public safety
What are the rights of the accused under the 6th amendment?
○ Right to an attorney
○ Right to a speedy and public trial
○ Right to an impartial jury
What is exclusionary rule?
○ Evidence found illegally during an illegal search and seizure cannot be
used against a defendant during their trial
What are important cases in Due Process and the Rights to Privacy
Roe v. Wade (1973) / Griswold v Connecticut (1965)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
○ Roe wanted to obtain an abortion in Texas but could not do so legally or
safely
○ Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s choice to terminate pregnancy during
the first trimester was her right under the right to privacy
■ Incorporated to all states
■ Made it unconstitutional for a state to criminalize abortion
Griswold v Connecticut (1965)
○ Guarantees married couples the right to purchase contraceptives without
government interference
■ Right to privacy
○ First, third, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment implicitly
guarantee the right to privacy
What is the Right to Privacy?
Right to be free of government scrutiny against an individual’s behaviors
or beliefs
What is the “Penumbra” of Privacy
○ “Partial Shadow”
○ First, third, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment implicitly
guarantee the right to privacy
○ Right to privacy is never explicitly stated in the Constitution
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
○ Written by Martin Luther King Jr.
○ MLK was held in Birmingham, AL for protesting segregation
○ The letter discussed his hope to incorporate nonviolent protest to combat
segregation in the South
○ “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”
What is the Equal Protection Clause?
○ Clause of the fourteenth amendment
○ No state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law”
Examples of Social Movements
○ Civil Rights
○ Women’s Rights
○ LGBTQ Rights
What case involved Government Responses to Social Movement?
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
○ A group of African-American sent their children to a segregated
elementary school
○ With the help of Thurgood Marshall they argued that segregated schools
violated the fourteenth amendment’s equal protection clause
○ Ruled that separate was NOT equal
■ Reversed “separate but equal” ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Legislation preventing discrimination due to:
■ Race
■ Skin color
■ National origin
■ Religion
■ Sex
Title IX
○ Prevents schools and educational institutions from receiving federal
funding from discriminating against female
Voting Rights Act of 1965
○ Legislation that made it easier for African-Americans to vote
○ Prevented discrimination in voting
○ Broke down barriers such as the poll tax
What was an important case in Balancing Minority and Majority Rights
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
○ North Carolina’s reapportionment plan created only one-black majority
district
■ A second proposal included two-black majority districts
○ North Carolina residents argued the constitutionality of the districts
○ Supreme Court ruled that redistricting must be race-conscious and comply
w/ the Voting Rights Act (1965)
■ Redistricting must be under “strict scrutiny” to comply with the
equal protection clause
“Separate but Equal” Doctrine
During Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that segregated
facilities did not violate the fourteenth amendment’s equal protection
clause
Majority-Minority Districts
○ District with boundaries that allow for a majority of the voters come from
one minority group
○ Ensures minority groups representation
Voting Rights Act of 1965
○ Legislation that made it easier for African-Americans to vote
○ Prevented discrimination in voting
○ Broke down barriers such as the poll tax
Important case in Affirmative Action?
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
○ Supreme Court ruled that quotas could not be used to increase minority
enrollment
○ Opponents of affirmative action consider it “reverse racism”
■ Believe that affirmative action takes opportunities away from
white individuals
Affirmative Action
○ Programs and attempts to provide minority and underrepresented groups
opportunities
■ Typically, educational or employment opportunities
“Colorblind” Constitution
Belief that Constitution protects all races equally
Equal Protection Clause
○ Clause of the fourteenth amendment
○ No state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law”
