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| Occurs when the media affect the issues and problems people think about. |
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| Limits that one branch of government places on another because they have different interests, preventing an abuse of power. |
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| Preliminary election that narrows the number of candidates by determining who will be the party nominees in the general election. |
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| Final election that selects the officer holder. |
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| aka direct democracy; system in which ordinary people make all the laws themselves. |
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| Court authority to declare null and void laws of Congress and of state legislatures on the grounds that they violate the Constitution. |
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| Part of the Constitution that says the Constitution is the "supreme law of the land," to which all judges are bound. |
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| Those who campaigned on behalf of the Constitution. |
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| Constitutional provision that counted each slave as three-fifths of a person when calculating representation in the House of Representatives; repealed by the Fourteenth Amendment. |
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| Necessary-and-Proper Clause |
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| aka the Elastic Clause; Constitutional clause that gives Congress the power to take all actions that are "necessary and proper" to the carrying out of its delegated powers. |
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| Uprising in western Massachusetts in 17886 led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays. |
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| Division of sovereignty between at least two different levels of government. |
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| A system of government in which different institutions exercise different components of governmental power. |
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| Colloquial term given to politicians' trading of favors, votes, or generalized support for each other's proposals. |
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| Delaying tactic by which senators refuse to allow legislation to be considered, usually by speaking indefinitely. |
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| A legislature that contains two chambers. |
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| The presiding officer of the House of Representatives; normally, the Speaker is the leader of the majority party. |
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| Guarantees to equal treatment under the law. |
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| Fourteenth Amendment clause specifying that no state can deny any of its people equal protection under the law. |
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| Segregation laws passed after Reconstruction. |
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| Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) |
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| Failed constitutional amendment to ban gender discrimination. |
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| Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) |
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| The Court ruled that separate public facilities for Blacks and Whites in the South were equal, and that "color-blind" segregation is protected under the U.S. Constitution. |
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| Freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, to petition, and to assemble. |
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| Interdiction of unreasonable searches and seizures; warrants. |
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| Indictments, due process, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and rules for Eminent Domain. |
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| No excessive bail and fines or cruel and unusual punishment. |
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| Limits the power of the Federal government to what is expressed in the Constitution; laws not expressed are left for the state and the people. |
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| Citizenship, state due process, applies Bill of Rights to the states, revision to appointment of Representatives, denies public office to anyone who has rebelled against the U.S. |
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| Suffrage no longer restricted by race. |
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| Government spending that a group considers unneeded of wasteful. |
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| Marbury vs. Madison (1803) |
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| The Supreme Court carved out for itself the power to strike down laws of Congress that it determines are unconstitutional. |
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| Dred Scott vs. Sandford (1857) |
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| The Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not prevent slavery in the territories. Moreover, and federal law that interfered with the right of an individual to his property, including slaves, was unconstitutional. |
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| After the disputed 2000 Presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the State of Florida had to stop recounting its ballots, ruling that the recount violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. |
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| Roth vs. the United States (1957) |
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| The Court ruled that a work (art or literature) was obscene if it was "utterly without any redeeming social importance and, "to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interests." |
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| Gitlow vs. New York (1925) |
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| The Court ruled that states may not interfere with their citizens' First Amendment rights, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution unless such speech expressly advocates the overthrow of the government. |
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| The Court ruled that the right to privacy, protected by the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, confers upon women the right to legal abortions. |
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| Grutter vs. Bollinger (2003) |
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| The US Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan's law school Affirmative Action program was Constitutional because it was narrowly tailored to promote a diverse student body, consistent with the Court's Bakke vs. University of California decision. |
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| The US Supreme Court Ruled that State and local police departments are bound to respect citizens' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. Specifically, the Court provided that evidence illegally obtained must be excluded from trial (ie the Exclusionary Rule) |
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| Miranda vs. Arizona (1966) |
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| The Court ruled that, before an individual can be arrested and held for questioning, they must be informed of their right to remain silent, guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment, and their to have a lawyer present during custody, even at public expense. Miranda vs. Arizona further required that, before an arrested individual may be questioned, they must warned that anything they say may be used as evidence against them. |
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| New York Times vs. Sullivan (1964) |
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| The Court established the right of citizens to criticize public official without fear of being sued for libel. |
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| Griswold vs. Connecticut (1965) |
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| The Court ruled that Americans' guaranteed rights are not limited to those specifically identified in the Constitution. |
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| In Buckley, the US Supreme Court struck down campaign spending limits contained in the Federal Election Campaign Act. The Court reasoned that campaign spending was tantamount to political speech. Therefore, the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. |
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