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| Court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody |
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| Retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of an individual; forbidden in the Constitution |
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| Legislative Act inflicting punishment, including deprivation of property, without a trial, on named individuals or members of a specific group |
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| Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the fourteenth amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law |
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| The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are brought within the scope of the fourteenth amendment and so applied to state and local governments |
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| Clause in the First amendment that states that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. It has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as forbidding governmental support to any or all religions |
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| Money provided by the government to parents for payment of their children's tuition in a public or private school of their choice |
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| Clause in the first amendment that states that the Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion |
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| Interpretation of the first amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action |
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| Clear and Present Danger Test |
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| Interpretation of the first amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts. To shout "Fire!" falsely in a crowded theater is Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's famous example |
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| Preferred Position Doctrine |
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| Interpretation of the first amendment that holds that freedom of expression is so essential to democracy that governments should not punish persons for what they say, only for what they do |
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| Libel, obscenity, fighting words, and commercial speech, which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances |
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| Written defamation of another person. Especially in the case of public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to restrict libel actions are very rigid |
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| Attempting to overthrow the government by force or to interrupt its activities by violence |
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| quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value |
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| Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or incite them to acts of violence |
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| Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less first amendment protection, primarily to discourage false and misleading ads |
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| Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional |
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| Deliberate refusal to obey a law or comply with the orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition |
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