Unit 7 Buzzwords Flashcards
Clear and present danger rule
Created by the SC to draw the line between protected and unprotected speech.
Selective incorporation
A judicial doctrine where most protections in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states under the 14th.
Due process clause
Clause contained in the 5th and 14th. Prohibits the federal and state governments from depriving any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.
Establishment clause
First clause of the 1st. It directs the national government not to sanction a national religion.
Excessive entanglement
A law must not have the effect of advocating or restricting religion.
Free exercise clause
Second clause of the 1st. Prohibits government from interfering with a citizen’s right to practice religion.
Wall of separation principle
Not mentioned in the Constitution specifically. Established by SC in Everson v. Board of Education. Jefferson said that it should exist, but not be impenetrable.
Lemon test
3-part test for examining the constitutionality of religious establishment issues. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
14th Amendment
Guarantees equal protection and due process of the law to all citizens.
Symbolic speech
Symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally considered to be protected by the 1st.
Libel
False written statement that defames a person’s character.
Slander
False spoken statement that defames a person’s character.
Obscenity
Anything that utterly lacks any “scientific, literary, artistic, political or social value”
Patriot Act
Enacted after 9/11. It was a counter-terror law that undermines many rights in favor of national security.
Fighting words
Words that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace. Not subject to the protection of the 1st Amendment.
Equal protection clause
14th Amendment. Guarantees all citizens receive “equal protection of the law”.
Double jeopardy
Prevents individuals from being tried twice for the same crime.
De facto segregation
Segregation by fact.
De jure segregation
Segregation by law.
Exclusionary rule
Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial.
Habeas corpus
Petition requesting a judge to require authorities to prove that a prisoner is being held lawfully, and allows prisoners to know what they are being charged for.
Bill of attainer
A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.
Eminent domain
The power of the government to take private property, and convert it to public use.
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.
Probable cause
A reasonable basis to believe a crime has been committed.
Grandfather clause
Voter qualification provision in many southern states that allowed only those citizens whose grandfathers had voted before reconstruction if they couldn’t pass the tests.
Self incrimination
No person shall be held as a witness against him/herself.
Substantive due process
Judicial interpretation of the 5th/14th’s due process clauses that protects citizens from arbitrary or unjust state/fed laws.
Suspect classification
Category or class that triggers the highest standard of scrutiny from the SC.
Strict scrutiny
A heightened standard of review used by the SC to determine the constitutional validity of a challenged practice.
Grand jury
A legal body that is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct, and to determine if criminal charges are necessary.
Affirmative action
Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to previously disadvantaged group.
Good faith exception
An exception to the exclusionary rule barring the use of illegally obtained evidence. If the officers believe to have been in good faith, the evidence can still be used.
Prior restraint
Constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting speech or publication before the fact.
Incorporation doctrine
An interpretation of the constitution holding that the due process clause of the 14th requires state and local government to guarantee the Bill of Rights.
Direct inditement test
Test created by the SC in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969). Holding that the 1st protects advocacy of illegal action unless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur.
DOMA
The fed law that allows states to refuse to recognize same sex marriages.
Title IX
Provision of the education amendments of 1972 that bars educational institutions that receive fed money from discriminating again female students.
