Civil Liberties Flashcards
(21 cards)
Advisors to the President
to support and assist the president with communication to other persons, including board members
Bill of Rights/Amendments with clauses
The first ten amendments to the U.S Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties
Checks and balances
A constitutionally mandated structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of others
Commerce clause
grants Congress the power “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”
Elastic clause
Granted Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated list of powers specified in the Constitution (aka Necessary and Proper Clause)
Engel v Vitale
A case in which the Court found that a short school prayer authorized by New York public school officials violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
Exclusionary Rule
Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally seized evidence at trial
Full faith and credit clause
Section of Article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state
Gideon v Wainwright
A case in which the Court held that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a right of legal counsel to anyone accused of a crime (provide an attorney to defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys)
Iron triangles
The relatively ironclad relationships and patterns of interaction that occur among agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees
Judicial Review
Power of the courts to review acts of other branches of government and the states
McCulloch v Maryland
The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank, using the Constitution’s supremacy clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers
Original jurisdiction
The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. These courts determine the facts of the case
Precedent
A prior judicial decision that serves as a rule for settling subsequent cases of similar nature
Plessy v Ferguson
Supreme Court case that challenged a Louisiana statute requiring that railroads provide separate accommodations for blacks and whites; the Court found that separate-but-equal accommodations did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Redistricting/Gerrymandering/Reapportionment
process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect increase or decrease in seats allotted to the states, as well as population shifts within a state; drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district; reallocation of the number of seats in the House of Representatives after each decennial census
Roe v Wade
A case where the Supreme Court found that a woman’s right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment
Schenck v U.S.
The Supreme Court ruled that the freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.
Selective Incorporation
A judicial doctrine whereby most, but not all, protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment
Stare decisis
In court rulings, a reliance on past decisions or precedents to formulate decisions in new cases
Supremacy clause
Portion of Article VI of the Constitution mandating that national law is supreme over (that is, supersedes) all other laws passed by the states or by any other subdivision of government
