Chapter 4 Flashcards
Civil Liberties
- Individual freedoms that place limitations on the government (think freedom of speech, press, etc)
- What a good government can not do.
Civil Rights
- Government action to secure citizens’ rights for all people (think extension of voting rights).
- What a good government must do.
Establishment clause:
Congress can not make an official religion (1st Amendment).
- Separationists: those who believe that this clause establishes a “wall” between church and state.
- Accommodationists: those who believe that the two should be separate, but that government should accommodate religious organizations (ie like Faith Based Initiatives).
Free exercise clause:
Congress can not make a law restricting one’s free exercise of religion.
- Primary controversy: Which religious practices can the state regulate? (Peyote, Pledge of Allegiance)
- The standards have shifted over time from compelling state interests to allowing laws that discriminate via a byproduct of law protecting society.
Sedition
Speech that is critical of the government.
Imminent lawless action test
Speech can only be restricted if it is likely to cause immediate lawbreaking (danger).
Exclusionary rule
evidence obtained through illegal questioning or searching is impermissible in court.
Ex post facto laws
Congress can not make laws that act retroactively
Habeas corpus
Law requires that prisoners be brought before a judge to justify with evidence their incarceration.
Grizwold v. Connecticut 1965
SC case used the BoR as a justification for creating
a “zone of privacy” around the individual. Allowed for the use and distribution of contraceptive information.
Lawrence v. Texas 2003:
Struck down state anti-sodomy laws which extended the right of privacy to gay couples.
Selective incorporation
uses the logic of the 14th Amendment (1868) to secure federally protected rights for state citizens
