Ap Us Government Review Civil Rights And Civil Liberties

Front 1

What are civil liberties?

Back 1

protections (enjoyed by all Americans) from the abuse of government power

Front 2

What are civil rights?

Back 2

describes protections from discrimination b/c of race, gender, or other minority status -often used to refer to African Americans' struggles for equal status

Front 3

What is selective incorporation?

Back 3

the SC applying the Bill of Rights to state law on a case-by-case basis

Front 4

What rights have NOT been incorporated and can be restricted by the states?

Back 4

2nd (gun owning), 3rd (troop quartering), 5th (indictment by grand jury), 7th (jury trial in civil cases), 8th (protection against excessive bail and fines) Amendments

Front 5

What freedoms does the First Amendment guarantee?

Back 5

freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion

Front 6

What limitations are there on freedom of speech?

Back 6

clear and present danger test (no 'FIRE!' in a crowded theater, since it results in panic), no protection for libel, slander, obscenity, or violent speech

Front 7

What does the preferred position doctrine state?

Back 7

freedom of speech is fundamental to liberty- any limits on speech must address severe, imminent threats to the nation, Court protects offensive but nonthreatening speech

Front 8

What limitations are there on freedom of the press?

Back 8

need to be informed vs. security concerns constantly play out in battle b/w press and gov.

Front 9

What is prior restraint?

Back 9

government's efforts to prevent publication

Front 10

What are shield laws?

Back 10

laws designed to protect reporters in state cases, SC has ruled they aren't exempt from testifying in court cases and can be asked to name thier sources

Front 11

What is the three-part obscenity test?

Back 11

1. does it appeal to a person's baser sexual instincts
2. does it lack other value?
3. does the work depict sexual behavior in an offensive manner?

Front 12

What are limitations of freedom to assemble peacefully?

Back 12

right doesn't extend to violent groups and crowd gatherings may not unnecessarily disrupt day-to-day life- groups must apply for licenses to hold parades or street fairs

Front 13

What is freedom of association?

Back 13

freedoms of speech and assembly combine to form freedom of association, so the gov. can't control number or type of groups people belong to that don't threaten national security

Front 14

What are limitations of freedom of religion?

Back 14

human sacrifice, polygamy, denial of medical treatment to a child b/c of beliefs are not allowed

Front 15

What does the Court weigh against what in religion cases?

Back 15

the court weighs individual rights to free religious exercise against society's needs

Front 16

What is the Lemon test (established in Lemon vs. Kurtzman 1971)

Back 16

1. law must have a secular purpose 2. law can't promote nor discourage religion
3. law can't entangle the government 'excessively' w/ religion and religious institutions

Front 17

What are some religious pecularities allowed by the SC?

Back 17

Jehovah's Witnesses don't have to salute the American flag and Amish kids can stop school after 8th grade

Front 18

What is self-incrimination?

Back 18

a defendent can't be forced to testify in court, and jury isn't supposed to infer guilt when a defendent stays silent

Front 19

What does the 4th Amendment limit?

Back 19

it limits the power of the government to search for evidence of criminal activity

Front 20

What is probable cause?

Back 20

a judge must be convinced the police are likely to uncover evidence of illegality before he issues a search warrant (limits what and where police may search and take)

Front 21

What is the exclusionary rule?

Back 21

evidence found by police who disobey thier search warrants can't be used as evidence in trials

Front 22

What is the objective good faith exception?

Back 22

it allows for convinctions in which the search wasn't technically legal (due to problems w/ warrant) but was presumed to be legal so the search went ahead

Front 23

What is the inevitable discovery rule?

Back 23

illegally seized evidence that would have eventually been found legally is also admissible in court

Front 24

What are some instances where police don't need a warrant?

Back 24

an immediate search after arrest; if owner consents to search; evidence found in plain view (ex. marijuana grown on front lawn); if police believe they can find things that would be gone by the time they got a warrant

Front 25

What does the Sixth Amendment gurantee?

Back 25

criminal defendants have the right to an attorney in federal cases- Gideon vs. Wainwright incorporated this into the states
also gurantees a speedy trial

Front 26

How does the 'cruel and unusual punishment' clause affect the death penalty?

Back 26

the SC has ruled the death penalty is not cruel and unusual if applied properly

Front 27

What is the implied right to privacy?

Back 27

SC said combination of Amendments 1,3,4,5,9,14 add up to a guarantee of privacy

Front 28

The Civil War and relation to slavery

Back 28

Emancipation Proclamation (declared slaves are free in rebel states) made the war more clearly about slavery, resulted in an increase of power of fed. gov. which would impose equal rights laws

Front 29

13th Amendment

Back 29

ratified after Civil War, it made slavery illegal

Front 30

14th Amendment

Back 30

designed to prevent South from depriving newly freed blacks of thier rights, later on the 'due process' and 'equal protection' clauses were used to bring Bill of Rights to the states, also declared blacks are citizens of nation and state

Front 31

15th Amendment

Back 31

banned laws preventing African Americans from voting due to race or fact that they previously were slaves- right to vote is now extended to all men

Front 32

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Back 32

banned discrimination in hotels, restaurants, railroad cars, selection for jury duty -SC declared it unconstitutional in 1883

Front 33

Jim Crow laws and voting restrictions

Back 33

segregationist laws are Jim Crow laws (SC declared fed. gov. couldn't protect African Americans), poll taxes and literacy tests were used to deprive African Americans of thier voting rights

Front 34

What are grandfather clauses?

Back 34

exempted voting restrictions to anyone whose grandfather had voted, excluded blacks since thier grandfathers had been slaves who couldn't have voted

Front 35

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)

Back 35

declared 'separate but equal' facilities for the different races were legal- opened the door to decades of overt discrimination

Front 36

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)

Back 36

declared 'separate but equal' schools illegal, but didn't immediately solve segregation problem (some Southern states paid tuition of white kids at private schools to continue segregation)

Front 37

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Back 37

illegal to base employee's pay on race, gender, religion, or national origin
-important to many civil rights struggles

Front 38

24th Amendment

Back 38

outlawed poll taxes that had been used to prevent blacks and poor whites from voting

Front 39

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Back 39

banned discrimination in public accommodations, all federally funded programs, hiring based on color and gender -required fed. gov. to cut funding to anything that didn't comply w/ law

Front 40

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Back 40

designed to counteract Southern voting discrimination, allowed fed. gov. to step in anywhere where less than 50% of the population was registered to vote or where literacy tests were used

Front 41

Civil Rights Act, title 8 (1968)

Back 41

banned racial discrimination in housing

Front 42

Civil Rights Act of 1991

Back 42

SC had limited abilities of job applicants and employees to bring suits against discriminatory hiring practices- Act eased restrictions

Front 43

What is de facto segregation?

Back 43

whites flew to the suburbs and blacks remained in the cities usually which resulted in segregation -white neighborhoods are generally richer which funds better public schools

Front 44

What is de jure segregation?

Back 44

segregation by law

Front 45

What are affirmative action programs?

Back 45

programs that seek to create special employment opportunities for blacks, women, and other discrimination victims, are increasingly unpopular (b/c they are basically reverse discrimination)

Front 46

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

Back 46

granted 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work after giving birth to both mothers and fathers

Front 47

19th Amendment

Back 47

granted women the right to vote

Front 48

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Back 48

gender discrimination section was included by an opponent of the bill who hoped this section would weaken support for the bill, but the bill passed w/ the gender discrimination section in it

Front 49

Title 9, Higher Education Act (1972)

Back 49

prohibits gender discrimination by colleges that receive fed. funds, has been used to increase funding of women-only programs (ex. women-only sports)

Front 50

Age Discrimination Act of 1967

Back 50

prohibits employment discrimination based on age, except where necessary to perform better (ex. airline pilots and bus drivers)

Front 51

What does an amendment to the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 do?

Back 51

an amendment to this law banned some mandatory retirement ages and increased others to 70

Front 52

Voting Rights Act of 1972

Back 52

requires states to create congressional districts w/ minority majorities to increase minority representation in House -numerous strange shaped districts have been created to try to comply

Front 53

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Back 53

requires businesses w/ more than 24 employees to make thier offices accessible to the disabled, also requires new offices, hotels, and restaurants to be wheelchair accessible if possible, also mandated wider phone services for hearing-impaired

Front 54

26th Amendment

Back 54

exxtended the right to vote to 18-year-olds