Term
| Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) |
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Definition
| Was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. Contraceptives now are a legal under the right to privacy according to this law. |
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1st Amendment free speech, press, and assoc.
3rd Amendment prohibition against quartering of soldiers.
4th Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.
5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
9th Amendment guarantee of individual rights. |
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Question Presented: Does the Constitution protect a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion?
Court’s Decision: The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. |
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| Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) |
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Definition
A Missouri statute:
Declared the life begins at conception (preamble)
Prohibited abortions performed in public facilities or by public employees
Prohibited funding of abortion counseling
Required viability testing prior to an abortion in a pregnancy of 20 weeks or more
The Court upheld the Missouri statute, but continued support of Roe v. Wade.
The Court announced the “undue burden” standard. |
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| Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) |
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Definition
Established possible restrictions on abortion
Public financing prohibitions.
Require viability tests—expensive.
Fetal disposal laws.
Parental notifications, with judicial by-pass.
Hospitalization requirements.
Clinic licensing.
Husband notification was unconstitutional |
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| Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) |
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Definition
Question Presented: Does the Constitution’s expectation of the “right to privacy,” confer a fundamental right of homosexual conduct among consenting adults?
Majority (Justice White): Unlike the 1st Amendment reasoning that allows individuals to read, write, and watch whatever they wish to in the confines of their own homes, there is no similar right guaranteeing homosexual conduct. |
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| Decision: the meaning of liberty should, as a basis, protect what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes. |
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
- The Establishment Clause
- The Free Exercise Clause |
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| The clause in the First Amendment of the US Constitution that prohibits the establishment of religion by Congress. |
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| Everson v. Board of Education (1947) |
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| Previously the Establishment Clause only applied to the Federal Government. This applied it to the state government as well. |
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The Court established that in order to pass scrutiny, the governmental action must:
- Have a secular purpose that neither endorses nor disapproves of religion.
- Have an effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion (it must be neutral).
- Avoid “excessive government entanglement with religion.” |
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| Direct Election of Senators |
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| a procedural tactic in the U.S. Senate whereby a minority of legislators prevents a bill from coming to a vote by holding the floor and talking until the majority gives in and the bill is withdrawn from consideration. |
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| A parliamentary maneuver that, if three-fifths majority votes for it, limits Senate debate to 30 hours and has the effect of defeating a filibuster. |
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| Personal freedoms that government may not legitimately infringe. |
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| Positive actions that governmental officials or institutions take to protect individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by the government or individuals. |
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| The Traditional Presidency (1789-1932) |
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Definition
Presidents played a passive role in policymaking
Presidents generally oversaw laws passed by Congress
Presidents limited in interaction with the public
(Exceptions: Jackson, Lincoln) |
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Far greater formal and informal powers.
Legislative Process: Chief Agenda-Setter.
Much larger executive office & enormous federal bureaucracy.
Development of “the public presidency.” |
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Presidential power limited in Constitution
Major Argument: “Presidential power is the power to persuade.”
Pillars of Presidential Power
- Reputation
- Prestige
Prefers active & “expert” presidents |
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Formal government agreements entered into by the president that do not require the advice and consent of the Senate.
- Controversy: does this usurp the power of the Senate? |
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Directives by that president that tell executive branch officials HOW to implement the law
- Controversy: can alter policy; can add policy; can restructure bureaucracy |
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Historic use/non-controversial- presidential commentary on new law signed
Recent use/Controversial- presidential announcement regarding the constitutionality of a law passed and directives to executive branch officials NOT to implement portions of a law |
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1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judicial |
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| Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly, and to petition the government. |
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| Right for the people to keep and bear arms, as well as to maintain a militia |
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| Protection from quartering of troops |
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| Protection from unreasonable search and seizure |
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Protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and being deprived of private property
- Due Process rights: protections that government must follow before depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property |
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| Right to a trial by jury and other rights of the accused |
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Civil trial by jury
- Civil vs. Criminal Law |
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| Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment |
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| Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights |
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| Powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or the people |
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| Slavery/Involuntary Servitude |
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Due Process applied to states
Equal Protection |
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Established three-tiered structure of federal judiciary
- District Courts
- Courts of Appeals
- US Supreme Court |
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| System whereby individual citizens create, exchange, and control goods and resources |
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| "Separation of church and state" (sometimes "wall of separation between church and state") is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson (in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists) and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. |
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| "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." |
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Term
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
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Definition
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." |
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| The Incorporation Doctrine |
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| The incorporation doctrine is the legal theory that allows the Supreme Court to apply the Bill of Rights to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. |
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| Brown v. Board of Education |
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Definition
| Was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation. |
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- The action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart.
- The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment. |
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| Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education, and business" usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discrimination. |
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| segregation (especially in schools) that happens in fact although not required by law |
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| Discrimination that is set "by law" |
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| It held that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the territories, and that people of African descent (both slave and free) were not protected by the Constitution and were not U.S. citizens. |
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| Civil Rights Cases of 1883 |
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| The Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments. |
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| They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. |
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| The Black Codes were laws in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the civil rights and civil liberties of blacks. |
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| Was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public ("public accommodations"). |
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| Congress: The Electoral Connection is a book by David Mayhew that applies rational choice theory to the actions of American Congressmen. Mayhew argues that Congressmen are motivated by re-election. |
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| Multilateralism is a term in international relations that refers to multiple countries working in concert on a given issue. (unsure if this is correct, from wiki) |
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| Unilateralism is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action. Such action may be in disregard for other parties, or as an expression of a commitment toward a direction which other parties may find agreeable. (unsure if correct, from wiki) |
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American exceptionalism is the proposition that the United States is different from other countries in that it has a specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy.
It is not a notion that the United States is quantitatively better than other countries or that it has a superior culture, but rather that it is "qualitatively different". |
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| Review by the Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act. |
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| Originalism is a principle of interpretation that tries to discover the original meaning or intent of the constitution. |
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| In American law, a matter is moot if further legal proceedings with regard to it can have no effect, or events have placed it beyond the reach of the law. Thereby the matter has been deprived of practical significance or rendered purely academic. |
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| The rule of four is a custom of the United States Supreme Court that dictates that, if four justices decide that a case is worthy of being heard, the Court will agree to hear it. |
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| Ripeness refers to the readiness of a case for litigation. |
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| Interpretivism about the nature of law is the view that legal rights and duties are determined by the scheme of principle that provides the best justification of certain political practices of a community. |
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