Civil Liberties

The personal garuntees and freedoms that the federal government cannot abridge by law, constitution, or judicial interpretation

Civil Rights

The government-protected rights of individuals against arbitrary treatment

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution; largly guarantee specific rights and liberties

Ninth Amendment

Bill of Rights- "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be constructed to deny or disparge others retained by the people"

due process clause

Clause contained in the 5th and 14th Amendments. Over the years, it has been constructed to guarantee to individuals a variety of rights ranging from economic liberty to criminal procedural rights to protection from arbitrary governmental actions

Substantive due process

Judicial interpretation of the 5th and 14th amendments' due process clause that protects citizens from arbitrsry or unjust laws

incorperation doctrine

An interpretation of the Constitution that holds that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment requires that state and local governments also garuntee those rights

selective incorperation

A judicial doctrine whereby most but not all of the protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the 14th Amendment

fundamental freedoms

those rights defined by the Court to be essencial to order, liberty, and juctice

First Amendment

Bill of Rights- imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to the civil liberties of the people, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

establishment clause

The first clause in the 1st Amendment; it prohibits the national government from establishing a national religion

free exercise clause

The second clause of the 1st Amendment; it prohibits the US government from interfearing with a citizen's right to practice his/her religion

prior restraint

Constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting spreech or publication before the fact; generally held to be in violation of the 1st Amendment

clear and present danger test

Schenck v. US (1919);

the Court looks to see if the words used in a speech endangers a citizen or the federal government

direct incitement test

A test articulated by the Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) that holds that advocacy of illegal action is protected by the 1st Amendment unless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur

symbolic speech

symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally also considered to be protected by the 1st Amendment

libel

False written statements or written statements tending to call someone's reputation into despute

slander

Untrue spoken statements that defame the character of a person

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

The supreme Court concluded that "actual malice" must be proved to support a finding of libel against a public figure

fighting words

words that, "by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace." fighting words are not subject to the restirctions of the 1st Amendment

due process rights

Procedural guarantees provided by the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments for those accused of crimes

Fourth Amendment

Bill of Rights- "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable serches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmination, and partucularly describing the place to be serched, and the person of things being seized."

Fifth Amendment

Bill of Rights- imposes a number of restirctions on the federal government with respect to the rights of a persons suspected of commiting a crime

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

A landmark Supreme Court ruling that held the 5th amendment required that individuals attrested for a crime must be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counscel present

Miranda Rights

Statements that must be made by the police informing a suspect of his/her constituational rights protected by the 5th Amendment, including the right to an attorney provided by the court if the suspect cannot afford one

Exclusionary rule

Judicially created rule that prohibits police from using illegally siezed evidence at trial

Sixth Amendment

Bill of Rights- speedy and public trials, impartial juries, trials in the state where crimes were committed, notice of the charges, the right to confront and obtain favorable witnesses, and the right to counsel

Eighth Amendment

Bill of Rights- "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessine fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted"

Right to Privacy

the right to be let alone by the government

Roe v. Wade (1973)

A woman's right to an abortion should be protected under privacy

Thirteenth Amendment 

Bans slavery in the US

Black Codes

Laws denying most legal rights to newly freed slaves, passed by southern states post-Civil War

Fourteenth Amendment

guarantees equal protection and due processes of the laws to all US citizens

Fifteenth Amendment

Enfranchised newly freed male slaves

Jim Crow laws

laws enacted in southern states that descriminated against coloured people

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Variety of discrimination cases couldn't be prohibited because it was all up to the state legislatures

Grandfather Clause

Voting qualifications provisions in many southern states that only allowed people to vote if their grandfathers voted or to pass a wealth and literacy test 

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

requireing that railroads provide separate accomodation for whites and blacks

Suffrage movement

drive for voting rights for women in US fro 1890 to 1920

Nineteenth Amendment

guarunteed women the right to vote

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

decision holding segregation in schools is unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment; marked the end of legal segregation in the US

equal protection clause

14th Amendment- guaruntees that all cirizens recieve "equal protection of the laws"

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation passed by congress to outlaw segregation in public facilities and racial descrimination in employment, education, and voting; created EEOC

de jure discrimination

racial segregation that is a direct result of law or official policy

de facto desctimination

racial descrimination that results from practice rather than law

Equal Employment Opportunity Commision

federal agency created to enforce the Civil Rights act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, religion, or sex in hiring, promotion, or firing

Equal Rights Amendment

proposed amendment that would bar descrimination against women by federal or state government

suspect classification

category or class, such as race, that triggers the highest standard of scrutiny from thr Supreme Court

strict scrunity

the heightened standard of review used by the supreme court to determine the constitutional validity of a challenged practice

Title IV

provition of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that bars educational institutions recieving federal funds from discriminating aginst female students

affirmative actions

Policies designed to give special attenton or compensatory treatment to members of a previous disadvantaged group

judicial review

power of the courts to review acts of other branches of government and the states

Judiciary Act of 1789

established the basic three-teired structure of the federal court system

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

case in which the Supreme Court first asserted the power of the judicial review in finding that the congressional statute extending the Court's original jurisdiction was unconstitutional

trial courts

courts of original jurisdiction where cases begin

appellate courts

courts that generally review only finding of law made by lower courts

jurisdiction

authority wested in a particular court to hear and decide the issues in any particular case

original jurisdiction

the juristiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. Courts determine the facts of a case under their original jurisdiction

appellate jurisdiction

the power vested in an appellate court to review and/or revise the decision of a lower court

criminal law

codes of behavior related to the protection of property and individual safety

Civil Law

codes of behavior related to business and contractual relationships between groups and individuals

Constitutional courts

federal courts specifically created by the US constitution or by congress pursuant to its authority in Article III

Legislative courts

courts established by congress for specialized purposes, such as court of Military Appeals

brief

a document containing legal written arguments in a case filed with a court by a party prior to a hearing or trial

precedents

prior judicial decisions that serve as a rule for settling subsequent cases of similar nature

stare decisis

in court rulings, a reliance on past decisions or precedants to formulate decisions in new cases

senatorial courtesy

process by which presidernts generally defer selection of district court judges to the choice of senators of their own party who represent the state where the vacancy occurs 

strict constitutionalist

an approach to constitutional interpretation that emphizises the Framers' original intentions

writ of certiorari

a request for the court to order up the records from a lower court to review the case

Rule of Four

at least four justices of the Supreme court must vote to consider a case before it can be heard

solicitor general

the fourth-ranking member of the Dept. of Justice; responsible for handling all appeals on behalf of the US government to the SCOTUS

amiscus curiae

"friend of the court" may file briefs or even appear to argue their intrests orally before the court

Judicial Restraint

a philosophy of judicial decision making that argues courts should allow the decisions of other branches of government to stand, even when they offend a judge's own sence of principles

Judicial Activism

philosophy of judicial decisions making that argues judges should use their power broadly to further juctice, especially in the areas of equality and personal liberty

Judicial implementation

refers to how and whether judicial decisions are translated into actual public policies affecting more than the immediate parties to a lawsuit