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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
Describes the freedoms in the Bill of Rights
24
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
09/16/2011

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Term
Mapp v. Ohio 
Definition
In this court case the Court overturned the conviction of a woman for the possession of obscene materials. Police found pornographic books in her apartment after searching it without a search warrant and despite her refusal to let them in. 
Term
Gideon v. Wainwright 
Definition
In this court case the Court held that if a person is accused of a felony and cannot afford an attorney, an attorney must be made available to the accused person at the government's expense. 
Term
Griswold v. Connecticut 
Definition
In this case the Supreme Court overthrew a Connecticut law that effectively prohibited the use of contraceptives, holding that the law violated the right to privacy. 
Term
Miranda v. Arizona 
Definition
In this court case a man by the name of Ernesto was arrested and charged with kidnapping and rape of a young woman. After 2 hours of questioning, Miranda confessed and later convicted. Miranda's lawyer appealed his conviction, arguing that the police had never informed Miranda that he had a righ to remain silent and right to represented by counsel. 
Term
Roe v. Wade 
Definition
The United States Supreme Court, in this case, accepted the argument that the laws against abortion violated "Jane Roe's" right to privacy under the Constitution. 
Term
Miller v. California 
Definition
In this case, Chief Justice Warren Burger created a formal list of requirements that must be met for material to be legally obscene. (1) the average person finds that it violates contemporary community standards; (2) the work taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest in sex; (3) the work shows patently offensive sexual conduct; (4) the work lacks serious redeeming literary, artistic, political, or scientific merit 
Term
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Definition
In this case the Court ruled that direct state aid could not be used to subsidize religious instruction. The Court in the Lemon case gave its most general pronouncement on the constitutionality of govt. aid to religious schools, stating (1) that the aid had to be secular (nonreligious) in aim, (2) that it could not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and (3) that the government must avoid "an excessive government entanglement with religion." 
Term
Civil Liberties
Definition
The restraints on actions of government against individuals 
Term
What group of individuals must prove to a greater extent actual malice than an average person? 
Definition
Public Figures 
Term
Incorporation theory 
Definition
the view that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights are incroporated into the Fourteenth Amendment's protection against state government actions. 
Term
Establishment Clause 
Definition
Part of the 1st amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"; was designed to create "a wall of separation of Church and State." 
Term
Free exercise clause 
Definition
Allows a person to hold any religious belief that he or she wants, or can have no religious belief. When, however, religious practices work against public policy and the public welfare, the government can act. 
Term
Prior Restraint 
Definition
Restraining activity before that activity has actually occurred
Term
Symbolic speech 
Definition
Articles of clothing, gestures, movements, and other forms of nonverbal expressive conduct 
Term
Is symbolic speech protected by the 1st amendment? 
Definition
Such speech is given substantial protection today by our courts. In the court case Texas v. Johnson the Supreme Court ruled that state laws that prohibited the burning of an American flag as a part of a peaceful protest also violated the freedom of expression protected by the 1st amendment. 
Term
Commercial Speech 
Definition
Usually defined as advertising statements. 
Term
Is commercial speech protected by the 1st amendment? 
Definition
Yes, however Supreme Court justices use certain guidelines to ensure the validity of advertising statements which include: (1) seeks to implement substantial government interest (2) directly advances that interest, and (3) goes no further than necessary to accomplish its objective. 
Term
Clear and present danger 
Definition
Formulated by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes; says that expression may be restricted if evidence exists that such expression would cause a dangerous condition. 
Term
Defamation of character 
Definition
defined as wrongfully hurting a person's good reputation 
Term
Slander 
Definition
defamation of character through speech
Term
Libel 
Definition
Defamation of character through writing ( or in pictures, signs, films, or any other communication that has the potentially harmful qualities of written or printed words) 
Term
Actual Malice 
Definition
a person accused of slander/libel must be guilty of either knowledge of its falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth
Term
Gag Orders
Definition
orders that restricted the publication f news about a trial in progess or even aa pretrial hearing to protect the accused's right to a fair trial. 
Term
Exclusionary Rule 
Definition
Prohibited the admission of illegally seized evidence at trials in federal courts. 
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