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Cases and Terms of Ch. 5: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Cases And Terms Of Ch. 5: Civil Liberties And Civil Rights

by eefranco7, Jul. 2009

Subjects: and civil liberties rights

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School of District Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp, 1963	Decision that barred public schools from reading the Lord's Prayer and Bible verses over their public address systems.
Lemon Test (Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971)	A court is to ask three questions about any governmental practice challenged as a violation of the establishment clause: 1. Does the law or practice have a secular (nonreligious) purpose? 2. Does the primary intent or effect of the law either advance or inhibit religion? 3. Does the law or practice create an excessive entanglement of government and religion?
Establishment Clause	First Amendment clause guaranteeing freedom from religion by providing a basis for Supreme Court decisions limiting governments support and endorsement of particular religions. Prohibits: -the establishment of a national religion by Congress -government support for or preference of one religion over another or of religion over non-religious philosophies in general. Everson v. Board of Education, 1947
Free Exercise Clause	First Amendment clause guaranteeing freedom to practice one's religion without government support or endorsement. Protects: -the freedom to believe -the freedom to worship and otherwise act in accordance with religious beliefs Hamilton v. University of California, 1934 Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940
Strict Scrutiny	Type of analysis that places the burden on the government to demonstrate the necessity of a specific law in order to outweigh an individual's desire to engage in a religious practice.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act	Applies only to protect individuals' free exercise of religion against actions by the federal government.
Clear and Present Danger Test	A test for permissible speech articulate by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in Schenck v. United States, 1919 that allows government regulation of some expressions. It would permit prosecution only for speeches and publications that actually posed a immediate threat to American society. Ex: shouting fire in a theater and causing panic
Political Speech	People sharing their viewpoints about the government and public affairs.
Commercial Speech	Texts such as advertising, promoting business ventures. Such speech is subject to government regulation to ensure truthfulness and to protect the public from unsafe products.
Symbolic Speech	Occurs when people take an action designed to communicate an idea.
Reasonable time, Place, and Manner Restrictions	Restrictions that affect the rights of both speech and assembly.	The government must demonstrate that important societal interests justify any limited restrictions on expression.
Prior Restraint	The governments attempt to prevent certain information or viewpoints from being published.	The principle of no prior restraint doesn't prevent authors and publishers from later being sued for the publications of false or misleading information that harms people's reputations.
Near v. Minnesota, 1931	Supreme Court struck down a state law intended to prevent the publication of articles or editorials that used inflammatory language to criticize government officials. As a result, the government generally can't prevent articles from being published.
Defamation	false, harmful statements either through spoken words (slander) or through written words (libel). -Court's decision said that government can't censor the media, except perhaps in the most extreme cases.
New York Times v. United States, 1971	Federal government claimed that the publication by newspapers of a top-secret, internal Defense Department study concerning the Vietnam War would seriously damage national security. The "Pentagon Papers" had been given to the New York Times and Washington Post by Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department analyst who believed the public should know more about what was really happening in the war-even though he was legally forbidden to make the info available. Supreme Court majority declared that the newspapers could continue to publish the report (History of the U.S. Decision Making Process on Vietnam Policy) because the government had not proved that the publications would actually harm national security. Decision demonstrated that many judges would require exceptionally compelling proof of harm to society before permitting government censorship of publications about public affairs.
Reporter's Privilege	Authorizes news agencies to decline to provide information requested by the government. Advocates for the news media feel that this should be interpreted into the first amendment.
Press Shield Law	Statute enacted by a legislature establishing a reporter's privilege to protect the confidentiality of sources.
Obscenity Test	The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether the"average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. -The test is based on "community standards" which change over time.
District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008	Supreme Court struck down Washington D.C.'s law that banned the possession of handguns by anyone except retired police officers.
Exclusionary Rule	Evidence obtained improperly by the police can't be used to prosecute someone accused of a crime. Supreme Court has allowed exceptions in some circumstances. Endorsed in Weeks v. United States, 1914.
Warrant	An order from a judge authorizing a search or an arrest. Under the Fourth Amendment, police and prosecutors must present sufficient evidence to constitute "probable cause" in order to obtain a warrant from a judge.
Permissable Warrantless Searches	-"Stop and Frisk" searches of suspect's outer clothing on the streets when officers have a reasonable basis to suspect that person is involved in criminal behavior and potentially poses a danger to the public. -"Exigent curcumstances" in which an immediate, warrantless search must be undertaken because of danger to the public or the possible loss of evidence. -Searches based on "special needs" beyond the normal purposes of law enforcement, such as luggage searches at airports.
Double Jeopardy	Protection against being tried twice for the same crime.
Compelled Self-Incrimination	No person may be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
Miranda v. Arizona, 1966	U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires police officers, before questioning a suspect in custody, to inform that suspect about the right to remain silent and the right to have a lawyer present during questioning.
Miranda Rights	You have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you. -Police can ask motorists questions without informing them of their Miranda Rights.
Speedy and Public Trial	Protects a fair trial without the government abusing its powers to hold secret trials in which people can be unfairly convicted and sentenced. Prevents the government from ruining a person's life by holding charges over his or her head for a indefinite period of time.
Trial by Jury	A 6th Amendment right to have criminal guilt decided by a body of citizens drawn from the community.
Plea Bargaining	Process approved by the Supreme Court in which prosecutors and defense attorneys negotiate a guilty plea in exchange for a less-than-maximum number of charges or a less severe sentence. -Has become an essental way to dispose of the vast number of cases that otherwise would overwhelm the resources of the criminal justice system if they all proceeded to trial.
Indigent Defendants	People who do not have enough money to hire their own attorneys.
Argersinger v. Hamlin, 1972	Right to counsel for indigents was expanded to all cases in which the potential punishment involves incarceration, even a short stay in jail.
Ross v. Moffitt, 1974.	Right to counsel for indigents was expanded to initial appeals.
Trop v. Dulles, 1958	Supreme Court said that the phrase "cruel and unusual punishments" must be defined according to society's contemporary standards, so the meaning of the phrase changes as society's values change.
Capital Punishment	A criminal punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, in which a person is subject to execution after conviction. It is reserved for the most serious offenses.
Furman v. Georgia, 1972	Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional as it was then being administered. -It was reinstated in 1976 after justices were persuaded that states had adopted fairer procedures for administering capital punishment cases.
Bifurcated Proceedings	Seperate trials to determine guilt and to decide on the appropriate sentence.
Aggravating Factors	Make a particular crime or offender worse than others. Ex: murder by a repeat offender or killing in the course of committing another felony.
Mitigating Factors	Factors that might make an offender less deserving of the death penalty. Ex: offender's age, mental problems
Atkins v. Virginia, 2002	Justices forbid states from executing mentally retarded murderers.
McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987	Court refused to recognize statistical evidence showing that racial discrimination affects decisions about which offenders will be sentenced to death.
Baze v. Rees, 2008	Justices, by a 7-2 vote, refused to declare that execution by lethal injection is unconstitutional.
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 2008	5-4 decision that barred imposition of a death sentence for the rape of a child.
Coker v. Georgia, 1977	Court banned capital punishment for the rape of adults.
Right to Privacy	A constitutional right created and expanded in the U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning access to contraceptives, abortion, private sexual behavior, and other matters, even though the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution.
Lawrence v. Texas, 2003	Although some Americans believe that laws should forbid sexual behavior between same-sex couples (gays and lesbians), the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that consenting adults have a right to privacy that protects their ability to control their own noncommercial sexual activities inside their own homes.
Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965	Supreme Court struck down the statute in Connecticut that made it a crime to sell, possess, use, or counsel the use of contraceptives.
Roe v. Wade, 1973	Controversial U.S Supreme Court decision that declared women have a constitutional right to choose to terminate a pregnancy in the first 6 months following conception.
Political Equality	Founders of the U.S. wanted to enjoy this. It would allow them to express their views, own property, and participate in what they called a "republican" governing system.
Equality of Condition	Conception of equality that exists in some countries that value equal economic status as well as equal access to housing, health care, education, and government services.
Equality of Opportunity	Conception of equality that seeks to provide all citizens with opportunities for participation in the economic system and public life but accepts unequal results in income, political power, and property ownership.
Black Codes	Laws enacted by southern states following Civil War, which denied blacks equality before the law and political rights, and imposed on them mandatory year-long labor contracts, coercive apprenticeship regulations, and criminal penalties for breach of contract. Through these laws, the South's white leadership sought to ensure that plantation agriculture survived emancipation.
Reconstruction Act of 1867	Northerners reaction to the Southerner's Black Codes. Required the southern states to establish new state governments based on the granting of voting rights to all men, both white and African American.
Jim Crow Laws	Laws enacted by southern state legislatures after the Civil War that mandated rigid racial segregation. The laws were named after a minstrel song that ridiculed African Americans.
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896	U.S. Supreme Court decision that endorsed the legality of racial segregation laws by permitting "seperate but equal" services and facilities for African Americans even though the services and facilities were actually inferior.
De Jure Segregation	State and local laws mandated discrimination and seperation.
De Facto Segregation	Used by Northerners, less formal means of discrimination.
Gong Lum v. Rice, 1927	U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that barred Chinese-American children from white schools and required them to attend inferior, segregated schools for African Americans.
Thurgood Marshall	First African American appointed to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954	Supreme Court decision that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 and declared that government mandated racial segregation in schools and other faciliities and programs violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Earl Warren (1891-1974)	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-1969) who led the Court to its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954 and also took a leading role in many deciions expanding civil liberties and promoting civil rights.
Loving v. Virginia, 1967	Supreme Court struck down state laws that prohibited people from marrying individuals of a different race.
Milliken v. Bradley, 1974	Supreme Court limited the ability of lower courts to issue desegregation orders by requiring that all orders only affect studens within the boundaries of a single school system.
Bradwell v. Illinois, 1873	Supreme Court established an unfair, long-standing precendent that provided judicial endorsemnet of laws that discriminated against women because of their gender.
Strict Scrutiny Test (Equal Protection Clause)	Does the government have a compelling reason for the law, policy, or program that clashes with a fundamental freedom or treats people differently by "suspect" demographic characteristics? If so, is this the least restrictive way to attain that objective?	Applied to claims concerning fundamental freedoms: religion, assembly, press, privacy. And discrimination based on race.
Intermediate Scrutiny Test (Equal Protection Clause)	Is gender discrimination from a law, policy, or government practice substantially related to the advancement of an important government interest? Ex: Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, 1982, The preservation of a public university as a single-sex institution is not an important government interest that can justify excluding men from a graduate nursing program.	Applied to claims of gender discrimination.
Rational Basis Test (Equal Protection Clause)	Is the government's law, policy, or practice a rational way to advance a legitimate government interest?	Applied to claims of age, wealth, or other forms of discrimination not covered by the other two tests.
Restrictive Covenant	A clause addes to a deed restricting real estate for a reason. -Were a common technique used in real estate to force minority group members to live in ghetto neighborhoods.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)	Civil rights leader who emerged from the Montgomery bus boycott to become a national leader of the civil rights movement and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Civil Rights Act of 1964	Federal statute that prohibited racial discrimination in public accomodations, employment, and programs receiving federal funding.
Voting Rights Act of 1965	Federal legislation that finally facilitated the participation of African Americans through voting and campaigning for elective office.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1957	Investigated and reported to Congress about discrimination and the deprivation of civil rights.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1964	Investigated complaints about illegal employment discrimination.
Universal Suffrage	The right to vote for all adult citizens.
Cesar Chavez	Latino civil rights leader who founded the United Farm Workers and used nonviolent, grassroots mobilization to seek civil rights for Latinos and improved working conditions for agricultural workers.
Affirmative Action	Measures taken in hiring, recruitment, employment, and education to remedy past and present discrimination against members of specific groups.