Unit 7 Buzzwords

Question 0

Clear and present danger rule

Answer 0

Created by the SC to draw the line between protected and unprotected speech.

Question 1

Selective incorporation

Answer 1

A judicial doctrine where most protections in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states under the 14th.

Question 2

Due process clause

Answer 2

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”.

Question 3

Establishment clause

Answer 3

First clause of the 1st. It directs the national government not to sanction a national religion.

Question 4

Excessive entanglement

Answer 4

A law must not have the effect of advocating or restricting religion.

Question 5

Free exercise clause

Answer 5

Second clause of the 1st. Prohibits government from interfering with a citizen’s right to practice religion.

Question 6

Wall of separation principle

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Lemon test

Answer 7

3-part test for examining the constitutionality of religious establishment issues. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Question 8

14th Amendment

Answer 8

Guarantees equal protection and due process of the law to all citizens.

Question 9

Symbolic speech

Answer 9

Symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally considered to be protected by the 1st.

Question 10

Libel

Answer 10

False written statement that defames a person’s character.

Question 11

Slander

Answer 11

False spoken statement that defames a person’s character.

Question 12

Obscenity

Answer 12

Anything that utterly lacks any “scientific, literary, artistic, political or social value”

Question 13

Patriot Act

Answer 13

Enacted after 9/11. It was a counter-terror law that undermines many rights in favor of national security.

Question 14

Fighting words

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Equal protection clause

Answer 15

14th Amendment. Guarantees all citizens receive “equal protection of the law”.

Question 16

Double jeopardy

Answer 16

Prevents individuals from being tried twice for the same crime.

Question 17

De facto segregation

Answer 17

Segregation by fact.

Question 18

De jure segregation

Answer 18

Segregation by law.

Question 19

Exclusionary rule

Answer 19

Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial.

Question 20

Habeas corpus

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Bill of attainer

Answer 21

A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.

Question 22

Eminent domain

Answer 22

The power of the government to take private property, and convert it to public use.

Question 23

Ex post facto law

Answer 23

Law that makes an act punishable as a crime even if the action was legal at the time it was committed.

Question 24

Probable cause

Answer 24

A reasonable basis to believe a crime has been committed.

Question 25

Grandfather clause

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Self incrimination

Answer 26

No person shall be held as a witness against him/herself.

Question 27

Substantive due process

Answer 27

Judicial interpretation of the 5th/14th’s due process clauses that protects citizens from arbitrary or unjust state/fed laws.

Question 28

Suspect classification

Answer 28

Category or class that triggers the highest standard of scrutiny from the SC.

Question 29

Strict scrutiny

Answer 29

A heightened standard of review used by the SC to determine the constitutional validity of a challenged practice.

Question 30

Grand jury

Answer 30

A legal body that is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct, and to determine if criminal charges are necessary.

Question 31

Affirmative action

Answer 31

Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to previously disadvantaged group.

Question 32

Good faith exception

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Prior restraint

Answer 33

Constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting speech or publication before the fact.

Question 34

Incorporation doctrine

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

Direct inditement test

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

DOMA

Answer 36

The fed law that allows states to refuse to recognize same sex marriages.

Question 37

Title IX

Answer 37

Provision of the education amendments of 1972 that bars educational institutions that receive fed money from discriminating again female students.