Unit VI Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Vocabulary Chapters 4 & 5

1. Unit VI Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Vocabulary Chapters 4 & 5

2. Q1. The fundamental individual rights of a free society, such as freedom of speech and the right to a jury trial, which in the United States are protected by the Bill of Rights

3. A1. civil liberties

4. Q2. The first ten amendments to the Constitution, which set forth basic protections for individual rights to free expression, fair trial, and property

5. A2. Bill of Rights

6. Q3. Americans’ freedom to communicate their views, the foundation of which is the First Amendment rights of freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and petition

7. A3. freedom of expression

8. Q4. clear-and-present-danger test

9. A4. A test devised by the Supreme Court in 1919 in order to define the limits of free speech in the context of national security. According to the test, government cannot abridge political expression unless it presents a clear and present danger to the nation’s security

10. Q5. Action (for example, the waving or burning of a flag) for the purpose of expressing a political opinion

11. A5. symbolic speech

12. Q6. Government prohibition of speech or publication before the fact, which is presumed by the courts to be unconstitutional unless the justification for it is overwhelming (a form of censorship)

13. A6. prior restraint

14. Q7. Due process clause (of the Fourteenth Amendment)

15. A7. The clause of the Constitution that has been used by the judiciary to apply the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments

16. Q8. The absorption of certain provisions of the Bill of Rights (for example, freedom of speech) into the Fourteenth Amendment so that these rights are protected by the federal courts from infringement by the states

17. A8. selective incorporation

18. Q9. imminent lawless action test

19. A9. A legal test that says government cannot lawfully suppress advocacy that promotes lawless action unless such advocacy is aimed at producing, and is likely to produce, imminent lawless action

20. Q10. Publication of material that falsely damages a person’s reputation

21. A10. libel

22. Q11. Spoken words that falsely damage a person’s reputation

23. A11. slander

24. Q12. establishment clause

25. A12. The First Amendment provision stating that government may not favor one religion over another religion, and prohibiting Congress from passing laws respecting the establishment of religion

26. Q13. free-exercise clause

27. A13. A First Amendment provision that prohibits the government from interfering with the practice of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion

28. Q14. The constitutional requirement that government must follow proper legal procedures before a person can be legitimately punished for an alleged offense

29. A14. Procedural due process

30. Q15. The legal principle that government is prohibited from using in trials evidence that was obtained by unconstitutional means (for example, illegal search and seizure)

31. A15. Exclusionary rule

32. Q16. The right of every person to equal protection under the laws and equal access to society’s opportunities and public facilities

33. A16. Civil rights or Equal rights

34. Q17. Gender gap

35. A17. The tendency of women and men to differ in their political attitudes and voting preferences

36. Q18. Equal-protection clause

37. A18. A clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny equal protection of the laws to any individual within its jurisdiction

38. Q19. A test applied by courts to laws that treat individuals unequally. Such a law may be deemed constitutional if its purpose is held to be “reasonably” related to a legitimate government interest

39. A19. reasonable-basis test

40. Q20. A test applied by courts to laws that attempt a racial or ethnic classification. In effect, the test eliminates race or ethnicity as a legal classification when it places minority-group members at a disadvantage

41. A20. strict-scrutiny test

42. Q21. Legal classification, such as race and national origin, that have invidious discrimination as their purpose and therefore are unconstitutional

43. A21. suspect classifications

44. Q22. A test applied by courts to laws that attempt a gender classification. In effect, the test eliminates gender as a legal classification unless it serves an important objective and is substantially related to the objective’s achievement

45. A22. intermediate-scrutiny test

46. Q23. Discrimination ( or segregation) on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, and the like that results from social, economic, and cultural biases and condition

47. A23. de facto discrimination (or segregation)

48. Q24. Discrimination (or segregation) on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, and the like that results from a law (ex. Jim Crow laws)

49. A24. de jure discrimination (or segregation)

50. Q25. equality of result