Chapter 4: Civil Liberties & Public Policy Flashcards
Civil Liberties
The legal constitutional protections against government. Although our civil liberties are formally set down in the Bill of Rights, the courts, police, and legislatures define their meaning.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press guarantee defendants’ rights.
Barron v. Baltimore
The 1833 Supreme Court Decision holding that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, not the states and cities.
Gitlow v. New York
The 1925 Supreme Court decision holding that freedoms of press and speech are “fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment from impairment by the states” as well as by the federal government.
14th Amendment
Citizenship offered to all; denies public office to rebels against the US
Incorporation Doctrine
The legal concept under which the Supreme Court has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the states through the 14th amendment
Establishment Clause
Part of the First Amendment stating that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Free Exercise Clause
A First Amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion.
Lemon v. Kurtzman
The 1971 Supreme Court decision that established that aid to church-related schools must (1) have a secular legislative purpose; (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
The 2002 Supreme Court decision that upheld a state providing families with vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools.
Engel v. Vitale
The 1962 Supreme Court decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York’s school children.
School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp
A 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that a Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Prior Restraint
A government preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the United States, according to the First Amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota.
Near v. Minnesota
The 1931 Supreme Court decision holding that the First Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint.
Schenck v. United States
A 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a “clear and present danger” of substantive evils.
