Vocab Chapter 4

Question 1

Civil Liberties

Answer 1

The personal freedoms of individuals that are protected from government intrusion

Question 2

Bill of Rights

Answer 2

The freedoms listed in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution

Question 3

Selective Incorporation

Answer 3

The process of applying some of the rights in the Bill of Rights to the states through the due process clause of the 14th Amendment

Question 4

Free Exercise Clause

Answer 4

The 1st Amendment provision intended to protect the practice of one’s religion free from government interference

Question 5

Establishment Clause

Answer 5

The first Amendment prohibition against the governments establishment of a national religion

Question 6

Lemon Test

Answer 6

The 3 part test for establishment clause cases that a law must pass before it is declared constitutional: it must have a secular purpose; it must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and it must not cause excessive entanglement with religion

Question 7

Clear and Present Danger

Answer 7

Free speech test that only prohibits speech that produces a clear and immediate danger

Question 8

Band Tendency Test

Answer 8

Free speech test that prohibits speech that could produce a bad outcome, such as violence, no matter how unlikely the possibility the speech could be the cause of such an outcome

Question 9

Symbolic Speech

Answer 9

Actions meant to convey a political message

Question 10

Miller Test

Answer 10

The current judicial test for obscenity cases that considers community standards, whether the material is patently offensive, and whether the material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Question 11

Slander

Answer 11

Oral statements that are false and injure another’s reputation

Question 12

Libel

Answer 12

Written statements that are false and injure another’s reputation

Question 13

Sullivan Rule

Answer 13

Standard requiring public official and public figures in defamation suits to prove that allegedly libelous or slanderous statements are both false and made with malice

Question 14

Hate Speech

Answer 14

Prejudicial and hostile statements toward another person’s innate characteristics such as race and ethnicity

Question 15

Prior Restraint

Answer 15

A practice that would allow the government to censor a publication before anyone could read or view it

Question 16

Probable Cause

Answer 16

A practical and nontechnical calculation of probabilities that is the basis for securing search warrants

Question 17

Exclusionary Reule

Answer 17

The judicial barring of illegally seized evidence from a trial

Question 18

Miranda Rights

Answer 18

The warning police must administer to suspects so that the latter will be aware of their right not to incriminate themselves. The rights include the right to remain silent, the right to know that their statements may be used against them, ad the right to have an attorney for the interrogation

Question 19

Gregg Vs Georgia

Answer 19

The Supreme Court decision that upheld the death penalty in the United States

Question 20

Roe Vs Wade

Answer 20

The Supreme Court case that legalized abortions in the U.S during the first two trimesters of a pregnancy

Question 21

Test Case

Answer 21

Practice by which a group deliberately brings a case to court in order to secure a judicial ruling on a constitutional issue

Question 22

Amicus Curiae Brief

Answer 22

Legal briefs filed by organized groups to influence the decision in a Supreme Court case