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Politics II

Terms

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Incorporation
In constitutional law, the application of almost all of the Bill of Rights to the states and all of their subdivision through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Gitlow v. New York 1925
The Court rule that "freedom of speech and of the press-which are protected by the first amendment from abridgment by Congress-are among the fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment from impairment by the states."

Extends Bill of Rigths to States
Free Exercise Clause
Clause in the first amendment that prohibits the federal government from restricting religious beliefs and practices.
No Establishment clause
Clause in the first amendment that is interpreted to require the separation of church and state.
Wall-of-separation doctrine
The Supreme Court's interpretation of the No Establishment Clause that laws may not have as their purpose aid to one religion or aid to all religions.
Lemon Test
To be constitutional, a law must have a secular purpose; its primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and it must not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.
Engel v. Vitale 1962
The Supreme Court stated that the constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least mean in this country it is nor part of the business of government to compose offical prayers for any group of the American people to recite as part of a religious program carried on by governemnt.
Engel v. Vitale
No compulsory prayers.
Abington Township v. Schempp
Court considered the constitutionality of Bible-reading ceremonies in the public schools. Here again, even though the children were not required to participate, the Court found that Bible reading as an opening exercise in the schools was a religious ceremony. The study of the Bible or religion, when presented objectively and as part of a secular program of education, did not violate the 1st amendment; but religious ceremonies involving Bible reading or prayer established by a state or school did.
Clear and present danger doctrine
Standard used by the courts to determine whether speech may be restricted; only speech that creates a serious and immediate danger to society.
Preferred position
Refers to the tendency of the courts to give preference to the firt amendment rights to speech, press, and assembly when faced with conflict. The burden of proof rest on the government to justify any restriction on speech, writing, or assembly.
Freedom of expression
Collectively, the first amendment rights to free speech, press, and assembly.
Symbolic speech
Actions other than speech itself but protected by the first amendment because they consitute political expression.
Commerical speech
Advertising communications given only partial protection under the first amendment to the constitution.
Prior restraint
Government actions to retrict publication of a magazine, newspaper, or books on the grounds of libel, obscenity, or other legal violations prior to actual publication of the work.
Shield laws
Laws in some states that give reporters the right to refuse to name their sources or to release their notes in court cases; may be overturned by the courts when such refusals jeopardize a fair trial for defendant.
Gag order
Order by a judge banning discussion or reporting of a case in order to ensure a fair and impartial trial.
writ of habeas
Court order directing public officials who are holding a person in custody to bring the prisoner into court and explain the reasons for confinement; the right to habeas corpus is protected by Article I of the constitution.
Bill of attainer
Legislative act inflicting punishment without judicial trial; forbidden under Article I of the constitution.
Ex post facto law
Retroactive criminal law that works against the accused; forbidden under Article I of the constitution.
Search warrant
Court order permitting law-enforcement officials to search a location in order to seize evidence of a crime; issued only for a specified loaction, in connection with a specific investigation, and on submission of proof that probable cause exists to warrant such a search.
Indictment
Determination by a grand jury that sufficient evidence exists to warrant trial of an individual on a felony charge; necessary before an individual can be brought to trial.
Grand Jury
Jury charged only with determining whether sufficient evidence exists to support indictment of an individual on a felony charge; the grand jury's decision to indict does not represent a conviciton.
Grant of immunity from prosecution
Grant by the government to an individual of freedom from prosecution on a particular charge in return for testimony by that individual that might otherwise be self-incriminating.
Miranda warning
Requirement that persons arrested be informed of their rights immediately after arrest.
Exclusionary rule
Rule of law that evidence found in an illegal search or resulting from an illegally obtained confession may not be admitted to at trial.
Bail
Release of an accused person from cutody in exchange for promise to appear at trail, guaranteed by money or property that is forfeited to court if defendant does not appear.
Plea bargaining
Practice of allowing defendants to plead guilty to leser crimes than those with which they were originally charge in return for reduced sentences.
First Amendment
Prohibits government establishment of religion, protects the free exercise of speech, press, assembly, and petition government
Second Amendment
Protects the right of people to bear arms and states to maintain a militia (national guard)units.
Third Amendment?
No forcible quartering of soldiers in private homes without congressional authorizaiton.
Fourth Amendment
Protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Requires warrants for searches of homes and other places where there is reasonable expectation of privacy. Judges may issue search warrants only with probable cause, and such warrants must be specific regarding the place to be searched and things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment
Requires that, before trial for a serious crime, a person must be indicted by a grand jury (federal only). Prohibits double jeopardy (trial for the same offense a second time after being found innocent). Prohibits the government from forcing any person in a criminal case to be a witness against himself.(No self-incrimination) Prohibits the gov't from taking life, liberty, or property "without due process of law." Prohibits the gov't from taking private property without "just compensation."
Sixth Amendment
Requires that the accused in a criminal case be given a speedy and public trial, and thus prohibits prolonged incarceration without trail or secret trials. Requires that trials be by jury and take place in the district where the crime was committed. Requires that the accussed be informed of the charges, have the right to confront witnesses, have the right to force supporting witnesses to testify, and have the assistance of council.
Seventh Amendment
Trial by jury in civil cases involving more than $20.
Eighth Amendment
Prohibits excessive bail, fines, and prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Ninth Amendment
Protection of unspecified rights (including privacy) that are not listed in the Constitution. The Constitution shall not be interpreted to be a complete list of rights retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment
States retain powers that are not granted by the constitution to the national gov't or prohibited by it to the states.
Thirteenth Amendment
Prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude except for punishment or law; applies to both government and private citizens.
Fourteenth Amendment
Protects "privileges and immunities of citizenship." Prevents deprivation of life, liberty, or property "without due process of law"; this phrase incorporates virtually all of the rights specified in the Bill of Rights. Prevents denial of "equal protection of the laws" for all persons.
Redistribution
Gov't policies meant to shift assets from one group to another.
Abolition movement
Social movement before the Civil War whose goal was to abolish slavery throughout the US.
Jim Crow
Second-class citizen status conferred on blacks by southern segregtion laws; derived from a nineteenth-century song-and-dance act
(usually performed by a white man in blackface) that sterotyped blacks.
Separate but equal
Ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 to the effect that segregated facilities were legal as long as the facilities were equal.
De facto segregation
Racial imbalances not directly caused by official actions but rather by residential patterns.
Nonviolent direct action
Strategy used by civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., in which protesters break "unjust" laws openly but in a loving fashion in order to bring the injustices of such laws to public attention.
Affirmative action
Any program, whether enacted by a government or by a private organization, whose goal is to overcome the results of past unequal treatment of minorities and/or women by giving members of these groups preferentila treatment in admissions, hiring, promotions, or other aspects of life.
Quota
Provision of some affirmative action programs in which specific numbers or percentages of positions are open only to minorities and/or women.
Bakke Case
Challenging affirmative action.
Set-aside program
Program in which a specified number or percentage of contracts must go to designated minorities.
Direct discrimination
Now illegal practice of differential pay for men v. women even when those individuals have equal qualifications and perform the same job.
Comparable worth
Argument that pay levels for traditionally male and female jobs should be equalized by paying equally all jobs that are worth about the same to are employer.
Glass ceiling
Invisible barriers to women rising to the highest positions in corporations and the professions.
Gitlow v. New York
"Freedom of Speech and of the press which are protected by the 1st amendment from abridgment by Congress. Extends Bill of Rights to States.
School District of Abington Township v. Schemmp
Cannot compel anyone to read the Bible.
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Limit secular purposes
Lynch v. Donelly
Perfectly alright to put christian decorations in yard. Equal access
NAACP v. Alabama
Wanted a membership list. Freedom of association
Mapp v. Ohio
Supreme Court extended the exclusionary rule to all criminal cases in the US.
Miranda v. Arizonia
Before questioning a suspects, a police officer must inform them of all of their constitutional rights, including the right to counsel and the right to remain silent. If a police commit an error in these procedures, the accused goes free, regardless of the evidence of guilt.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Equal protection under the fourteenth amendment requires that free and legal counsel be appointed for all indigent defendants in all criminal cases.
Griswold v. Connecticut
Connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraceptives. Griswold opened a planned parenthood distributing contraceptive in wiolation of the state staute. Supreme court upheld Griswold's challenge, finding the right to privacy.
Roe v. Wade
Norma was refused by doctors who cited state law prohibiting abortions. Challenged the law on the grounds of privacy. The Supreme Court ruled that the constitution right of privacy as well as the fourteenth amendment's guarantee of liberty included a woman's decision to bear or not to bear a child. Did not protect the life of the fetus.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
The ruling upheld slavery and the constitutional guarantee given slave owners for the return of slaves escaping to nonslave states.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court upheld states laws requiring segregation.
Brown v. Board of Educaiton
No segregation in public schools, separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
Civil Rights Act
Designed to erase raical discrimination in both public and private sectors of American life. Voter registration, bars, hotels, restaurants, public facilities, schools, equal opportunities.
Voting Act
eliminate restrictions on voting that have been used to discriminate against blacks.

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