American Gov. MO2 Study Guide

The process by which the Supreme Court makes certain parts of the Bill of Rights applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment to actions by state governments is known as _____ incorporation.

selective

In a 2010 CNN survey, 2 in 5 Americans stated that individuals arrested by police on suspicion of terrorism ______.

should not be read their Miranda rights

Supreme and final governing authority is known as _____.

sovereignty

In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court extended the constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure to action by _____ governments.

state

Any law that treats individuals differently based on race is subject to the ______ test.

strict-scrutiny

In a case involving protester Gregory Johnson, the Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag was protected specifically as ______ speech.

symbolic

The Supreme Court has ruled that the right of free assembly ______.

takes precedence over the mere possibility that the exercise of the right might have undesirable consequences

For the government to restrict speech, the imminent lawless action test requires ______.

that it satisfy two criteria for speech advocating the unlawful use of force that the speech must actually be likely to produce lawless action that the speech must be directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action

Which of the following are ancestral countries for many Asian Americans?

the Philippines India China

What was the name of the 1798 law that criminalized any speech or writings critical of the government, Congress, or the president?

the Sedition Act

Arrange the following items in chronological order starting with the earliest challenge to segregation laws at the top.

1. The Supreme Court ends school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 2. Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white rider in Montgomery, Alabama 3. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a speech before the participants of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

How many Asian Americans currently serve in Congress?

12

Who among the following were the authors of The Federalist Papers, which argued for ratifying the Constitution?

Alexander Hamilton James Madison

In which decade did the election of "tough on crime" candidates lead to state legislatures enacting stiffer penalties for crime while also limiting judges' abilities to reduce sentences for nonviolent crimes of first-time offenders?

1990s

Match the constitutional amendment to the right(s) it protects.

1st amendment > right to speech 2nd amendment > right to bear arms 4th amendment > protection against unreasonable search and seizure 5th amendment > protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy 6th amendment > right to a jury trial, an attorney, and to confront witnesses 8th amendment > protection against cruel and unusual punishment

In which year did the Supreme Court rule that forced busing violated student's constitutional right to equal protection under the law?

2007

According to United States government statistics, roughly ______ percent of Black children live in poverty, compared to ______ percent of white children.

35; 12

The right to legal counsel is a ______ Amendment protection.

6th

Despite the Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, by the 1970s ______ percent of Black children were still attending schools that were mostly or entirely Black.

95

What has the Supreme Court ruled concerning police use of modern technology, such as listening or thermal-imaging devices, to investigate a subject?

A search warrant is required, just as it would be for other circumstances.

Which of the following are examples of de jure discrimination?

A state requires separate public bathrooms for Black and white people. Women are not allowed to vote in federal elections.

England's ______ gave members of Protestant sects the right to worship freely and publicly. The first Amendment reflects this tradition.

Act of Toleration

Which statement best describes the political engagement of most Asian Americans in the 1960s?

Asian Americans were not politically active to any great extent.

Which of the following was the 1954 landmark case that ended segregation in public schools?

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

What was the first result of the national boycott of California lettuce and grapes that was launched by Cesar Chavez?

California passed a law giving migrant workers the right to bargain collectively.

Which groups have historically lacked equality in the United States?

Catholics Asian Americans women

Which influential figure began civil rights work by organizing strikes by farmworkers to attain basic labor rights for migrant workers?

Cesar Chavez

Those powers expressly listed in the Constitution are referred to as _____.

Enumerated powers

Which proposed amendment to the Constitution was passed by the Congress in the early 1970s but failed to receive the necessary three-fourths majority?

Equal Rights Amendment

Match the clause with its description.

Establishment clause > requires government neutrality toward religious institutions Free-exercise clause > prohibits the government from interfering with individuals; practice of their religion

Which of the following is a description of the plain view exception?

Evidence found in plain sight is admissible even if a suspect was stopped for another, unrelated infraction.

How did Thomas Jefferson define the meaning of "all men are created equal"?

He did not believe there was a precise meaning.

The Supreme Court ruled that the forced busing of children for the purpose of achieving racially integrated schools was constitutional in ______.

In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, the Supreme court ruled that busing children out of their neighborhoods to achieve racially integrated schools was permitted.

In 1968 Congress passed a law, the ______, that granted Native Americans constitutional rights similar to those held by other Americans.

Indian Civil Rights Act

Which of the following are true of the inevitable discovery exception?

It allows admission of tainted evidence in certain cases. It states that exclusion of physical evidence that would have been found anyway has no effect on the fairness of a trial.

Why is the necessary and proper clause called the elastic clause?

It gives the national government powers it needs to carry out its enumerated powers.

Which of the following statements about affirmative action are true?

Most Americans support programs to give equal treatment to groups that have been disadvantaged historically. Most Americans oppose programs that give preferential treatment to groups that have been disadvantaged historically.

Which of the following Native American nations have a majority who speak native languages at home?

Navajo Pueblo

Which of the following statements about federalism is accurate?

Neither the national nor state governments has the right to abolish the other.

Which 2015 Supreme Court decision removed the ban on same-sex marriage, citing it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection and due process clauses?

Obergefell v. Hodges

What is at the heart of many civil rights struggles for equality in the United States?

People hold deep-seated prejudices based on such characteristics as race, color, and religion.

The Supreme Court decision that determined that the right to privacy extended to include abortion is ______.

Roe v. Wade

The constitutional right to bear arms is found in which of the following amendments?

Second Amendment

In which 2011 case did the Supreme Court rule that the First Amendment's protection of speech extended even to hate speech during the funerals of soldiers killed in action?

Snyder v. Phelps

President Lyndon Johnson promoted federal initiatives to help the poor as part of his Great _____ program.

Society

Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), a number of southern congressmen wrote a letter titled the ______, urging state governments to "resist forced integration by any lawful means."

Southern Manifesto

Freedom of _____ is the right of individual Americans to hold and communicate thoughts of their choosing.

Speech

In Federalist No. 28, Hamilton stated that the people would have an "instrument of redress," should they wish to challenge established power. What was that instrument?

State power against national power, or national power against state power

The Articles of Confederation created a union of _____.

States

States' reserved powers are provided through the _____ Amendment.

Tenth

In Schenck v. United States (1919), Justice Holmes used which analogy in upholding the government's right to restrict speech that poses a clear and present danger?

The First Amendment does not permit a person to falsely yell "Fire" in a crowded theater.

Which of the following statements are true concerning the Supreme Court's decisions involving symbolic speech?

The Supreme Court has ruled that burning an American flag is a protected form of symbolic speech. The Supreme Court has protected symbolic speech nearly as vigorously as actual speech.

The Supreme Court decision in Schenck v. United States established which principle?

The federal government can restrict free expression but it does not have unlimited authority to do so.

Why are the states' constitutional powers called reserved powers?

The language of the Constitution reserves all powers not delegated to the national government to the states

Under the Articles of Confederation, what problem arose because the national government had no power to levy taxes on its citizens?

The nation could not maintain an army or navy

Which of the following best describes the limit that dual federalism places on national government power?

The national government is kept from extending its power into policy areas traditionally reserved for the states.

Why was the National Security Agency's collection of Americans' phone records, as revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013, ruled unlawful by a Federal appellate court?

The program had not been authorized by Congress.

How would the framers have reacted to the ways in which federal power has evolved over the decades?

They would be largely unsurprised

The importance of listing individual rights in the Constitution is that it gives individuals who feel that their rights have been violated ______.

a basis for taking the alleged violation into a court of law for a ruling by a judge

As part of what movement did advocates for women's suffrage (voting rights) become active on a large scale?

abolitionist movement

What portion of congressional seats are held by women?

about a quarter

A company that has a contract with the federal government to construct a road on federal land institutes policies that ensure that its hiring practices are fair and do not exclude members of minority groups. In this way, the company is complying with _____ requirements.

affirmative action

Which policy requires the federal government to implement measures aimed at reinforcing equal access to employment by mandating recruitment procedures that gave qualified minority workers an equal opportunity to gain government jobs?

affirmative action

In the case of Korematsu v. United States (1944), the courts ______.

allowed government polices during wartime that would not be allowed in times of peace

In general, the Supreme Court has held that gender discrimination in law is ______.

almost always unconstitutional

In order for an affirmative action program to be upheld as constitutional, the Supreme Court requires that government prove what kind of governmental interest?

compelling

Concerning symbolic speech, the Supreme Court has generally held that government regulation of the ______ of a message is unconstitutional. (This was illustrated by a Texas flag-burning case; the state of Texas actually burns old flags to dispose of them.)

content

The type of discrimination in which, despite legal protections, traditionally disadvantaged groups have fewer opportunities because of prejudice is ______.

de facto discrimination

Serving the United States in the fight against Nazism in World War II led African American soldiers to ______.

demand their civil rights

In following the Eighth Amendment, the Supreme Court has used which of the following tests to determine if an action constitutes cruel and unusual punishment?

determining whether a punishment is "disproportionate to the offence" determining if a punishment violates "fundamental standards of good conscience and fairness" determining if a punishment is "unnecessarily cruel"

What is "America's curse," according to the author of An American Dilemma?

discrimination

According to the supremacy clause in Article VI of the Constitution, which layer of government prevails whenever federal and state law conflict?

federal

When white settlers first arrived in what is now the United States, there were approximately 5 to 10 million Native American inhabitants. By 1900, there were ______.

fewer than 1 million

The First Amendment clause barring the government from passing any laws that prohibit an individual's practice of his or her religion is known as the ______ clause.

free-exercise

The First Amendment protection that makes it illegal for the government to enact laws that restrict the free practice of religion by any individual is known as the ______.

free-exercise clause

The establishment clause of the Constitution restricts which of the following?

government from supporting religion over no religion government from favoring one religion over another

Regarding freedom of the press, the Supreme Court has generally upheld the principle of no prior restraint. This principle means that ______.

government generally cannot stop the news media from reporting a story

The law refers to the rights of individuals; however, ______.

groups more often fight for civil rights

Hispanics who have immigrated to the U.S. are generally concentrated ______.

in their states of entry

In Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights protects ______.

individuals from actions by state governments as well as the federal government

Some critics argue that which of the following have weakened the exclusionary rule almost to the point that it applies only to extreme forms of police misconduct?

inevitable discovery exception plain view exception good faith exception

As a result of changes in sentencing policies, the U.S. prison population, per capita, ______.

is the largest in the world

Legislation from the 1960s and 1970s prohibits discrimination in hiring against older workers for ______.

jobs in which age is not an important factor in job performance

Which of these groups is typically more protective of individual rights?

judges

The current standard used to determine whether the establishment clause has been violated is known as the _____ test.

lemon

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 classified which of the following as legally protected groups?

minorities women

How many Hispanics currently serve in the U.S. House of Representatives?

more than 40

In a 1930s Supreme Court case that challenged the application of the separate-but-equal doctrine, the Court ruled that Blacks ______ public facilities reserved for whites in those cases where they didn't have separate facilities.

must be allowed to use

The Supreme Court has stated that in order for an affirmative action program to be upheld, the program must be ______.

narrowly tailored

The Bill of Rights protects a number of civil liberties, including freedom ______.

of assembly of the press of speech

The Supreme Court has generally held that those convicted in state courts and who appeal on the grounds that their federal constitutional rights were violated are limited to ______.

one appeal

Which of the following allows the admission of evidence that was immediately visible in the course of stopping a person for another infraction?

plain view exception

Which of the following are current policy issues for Native Americans?

preserving their culture and languages obtaining economic self-sufficiency preventing casino gambling from eroding tribal traditions

The right of an individual to be left alone without any interference from others is known as the right to ______.

privacy

The Bill of Rights protects civil liberties related to criminal procedure, including which of the following?

protection from unreasonable searches protection from self-incrimination the right to a jury trial the right to an attorney

A key factor in the struggle between the national and state governments to define the boundaries of federal-state power has been ______.

public support for federal policies compared with state policies

Which legal test gives government considerable leeway in treating people differently, such as imposing a higher tax rate on upper-income Americans?

reasonable-basis test

At one time, banks engaged in a practice known as ______, refusing to grant mortgage loans to people who lived in certain neighborhoods, especially those neighborhoods with large Black populations.

redlining

According to the establishment clause, the government is required to ______.

remain neutral toward all religions

Which of the following is a key result of the civil rights movement?

removing discrimination in voting requirements

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), the Supreme Court ruled that enemy combatant detainees were protected by which of the following?

the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice the Geneva Convention

Which of the following acts of legislation after the September 11 terrorist attacks gave government greater surveillance power to monitor phone calls and emails without a warrant or court order?

the USA Patriot Act

The Supreme Court has recently employed the Eighth Amendment to ban which of the following?

the death penalty for juveniles life sentences without parole for juveniles the death penalty for the mentally ill

Rioting broke out in 1957 during ______.

the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School

Which of the following allows the admission into trial of otherwise excludable evidence if the evidence was obtained by police who thought they were following proper procedure?

the good faith exception

In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) the Supreme Court developed which of the following tests that expanded protections for Americans to voice political opinions?

the imminent lawless action test

Concerning age discrimination in employment, the courts have given employers the right to force individuals to retire based on ______.

the nature of the job the performance of a particular employee

The implied powers of Congress derive from which

the necessary and proper clause

The 1977 Supreme Court case that provided guidance on the allowable restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly upheld which of the following?

the right of an American Nazi Party group to hold a parade in Skokie, a city with a large Jewish population that included Holocaust survivors

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects ______.

the right of the people to keep and bear arms

What accounts for the fact that Hispanics are healthier and have a longer life expectancy than would be predicted based on their education and income levels?

their family structure

What are comparable worth policies?

those that give women and men equal hourly pay for jobs that require similar training and education

How many distinct historical eras of federalism have occurred in the United States?

three

What was the intention of the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling?

to maintain segregation while claiming equality Separate but equal

The Supreme Court consistently ruled that the George W. Bush administration's practice of denying constitutional and legal protections to enemy combatants was ______.

under the jurisdiction of the United States courts

In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court ruled that restrictions on abortion were legal so long as they didn't place an ______ ____ on a woman's right to obtain an abortion.

undue burden

The Supreme Court decision in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) ______ affirmative action.

upheld

Despite the persisting issues of institutional racism, one area in which African Americans have made significant gains is in ______.

winning elective office

Based on the exclusionary rule, evidence that is illegally obtained can normally be used in a trial.

False

True or false: According to the Supreme Court, police can search a person's home merely on the basis of a hunch that the owner might be breaking the law.

False

True or false: Asian Americans are well represented in managerial positions in the technology industry.

False

Match the Supreme Court case with the freedom incorporated into the states.

Fiske v. Kansas > Freedom of speech Near v. Minnesota > Freedom of press Hamilton v. Regents, U of C > Freedom of religion DeJonge v. Oregon > Freedom of assembly

Which amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures?

Fourth

Which of the following statements is true regarding freedom of the press?

Freedom of the press receives strong judicial protection.

Who was the first woman to run on the national ticket of a major political party?

Geraldine Ferraro

Which of the following statements about the Americans with Disabilities Act are true?

It requires government agencies to take steps to make their buildings accessible to persons with disabilities. It grants certain employment protections to persons with disabilities.

The Supreme Court upheld the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II in which of the following cases?

Korematsu v. United States

The Supreme Court determined that privacy rights extend to consensual activity between same-sex partners in ______.

Lawrence v. Texas

About half of all Hispanics in the United States were born in ______.

Mexico or have Mexican ancestry

Which of the following cases established that law enforcement officers must advise detainees of their rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney, before beginning questioning in a criminal investigation?

Miranda v. Arizona

In which 2013 case did the Supreme Court invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act that included the formula for determining which states and counties were subject to federal oversight?

Shelby County v. Holder

True or False: Madison and Hamilton thought that the federal structure would encourage the state and national governments to check each other if either became abusive to individual freedom.

True

True or False: Prior to the passage of the United States Constitution, many of the states governed under their own state constitutions, which dated back to the colonial era

True

True or false: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned segregation in public accommodations such as restaurants and movie theaters, is based on Congress's power to regulate commerce.

True

True or false: The Supreme Court ruled that school administrators have discretion in searching student lockers for drugs and weapons, as they are responsible for student safety.

True

In its rulings in Riley v. California (2014) and United States v. Wurie (2014), the Supreme Court compared the search of a suspect's cell phone or similar electronic device to ______.

an exhaustive search of a suspect's home

Constitutional guarantees that protect citizens from arbitrary government action are known as ______.

civil liberties

According to this test, before speech can be restricted, the government must clearly demonstrate that a citizen's expression presents a very obvious and real danger to the public safety.

clear-and-present-danger test

The 1964 Civil Rights Act banned ______.

discrimination in public accommodations

Which practices were banned as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1968?

discriminatory practices in mortgage lending discriminatory practices in housing discriminatory real estate practices such as steering African American families to certain neighborhoods

What took the heaviest toll on the Native American population after white settlers arrived in what is now the United States?

disease

The doctrine by which state and national authority was separated precisely is known as ______.

dual federalism

The idea that the state must use procedures under the law before depriving someone of life, liberty, or property is part of the ______.

due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

The legal safeguards that prevent the government from depriving citizens of life, liberty, or property without adhering to strict legal procedures are known as ______.

due process protections

Based on the Lemon test, state-funded programs are least likely to survive under the establishment clause if the program ______.

has a significant effect on advancing a religion

The case of Carpenter v. United States (2018) dealt with the issue of the warrantless search of data from a suspect's cell phone provider in order to ______.

identify the locations at which cell phone calls were placed

Which of the following constitutional protections were at issue in the Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona (1966)?

the right to an attorney the right to remain silent

The Supreme Court decision in what case led many affirmative action opponents to believe that the Court may have been on its way to abolishing affirmative action completely?

Adarand v. Peña

True or false: The idea that "all men are created equal," as stated in the Declaration of Independence, has always been understood to include all people in the United States.

False

In order for police roadblocks to check drivers to be legal, they must conform to which of the following?

They serve an important highway safety objective. They must be systematic and not arbitrary

In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot lawfully ______.

ban sexual relations between consenting same-sex adults

Asian Americans emphasize _____ as a means of achieving upward mobility.

education

In its rulings in Riley v. California (2014) and United States v. Wurie (2014), the Supreme Court acknowledged that the decisions would ______.

impact law enforcement's ability to combat crime

Which of the following is not considered a Sixth Amendment protection?

the right to bear arms

Griswold v. Connecticut was a case dealing with ______.

the right to privacy

True or false: In a 1992 cases involving a St. Paul, Minnesota, city ordinance, the Supreme Court ruled that the government can restrict hate speech as it causes "anger or alarm."

False

True or false: The right to appeal after conviction is guaranteed in the Constitution.

False

Which amendment passed after the Civil War granted African American men the right to vote?

Fifteenth

Under which of the following Supreme Court cases did part of the Bill of Rights first become incorporated to apply to actions by the states?

Gitlow v. New York

Within the past 10 years, Supreme Court decisions have expanded LGBTQ rights in which of the following ways?

LGBTQ people are now protected from job discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. LGBTQ couples now have the right to marry throughout the United States.

Which of the following are true about women's equality in the workplace?

The average pay for women workers is only 82 percent of the amount earned by male workers. Jobs traditionally held by women pay less than many of the jobs traditionally held by men.

Which of the statements below are true of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program?

The program was established by the Obama administration in 2012. The Trump administration's attempt to rescind the program was invalidated by the Supreme Court.

True or false: The principle of federalism has provoked frequent and bitter conflict from the time the Constitution was ratified.

True

True or false: Women working in nonprofessional fields often cannot find jobs that pay enough to cover child-care expenses as well as other expenses.

True

In which case did the Supreme Court rule that the male only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional?

United States v. Virginia

The exclusionary rule is based on the Supreme Court decision in ______.

Weeks v. United States

In the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court found that segregated schools made Black students feel like they had _____ in the community and were thus "inherently unequal."

an inferior status

In the case of Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the majority held that the formula for identifying states and counties subject to federal oversight of changes related to voting was ______.

based on obsolete statistics

The landmark case of Lau v. Nichols (1974) resulted in many states offering ______ education in their public schools.

bilingual

The cases of Riley v. California (2014) and United States v. Wurie (2014) both dealt with the use of what technology?

cell phones

A recent trend in intergovernmental relations to "pass down" policy authority from the national government to state and local governments is known as ______.

devolution

What are the powers specifically given to the national government by the constitution called?

enumerated

In Engle v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court ruled against the reciting of prayers in public schools on grounds it violates the ______.

establishment clause

Under the U.S. Constitution, which of the following sets of powers are associated with the federal government rather than state governments?

implied enumerated

The Supreme Court has ruled that, despite the exclusionary rule, evidence discovered under a faulty warrant is admissible if the police have acted ______.

in good faith

Constitutional guarantees that protect citizens' individual rights are known as civil _____.

Liberties

Which of the following accurately describes women and poverty?

Many single-parent working women without college degrees or special skills find that their wages cannot cover child-care expenses. Single-parent women who work in nonprofessional fields are particularly vulnerable to poverty. Most single-parent families are headed by women and one-third of those live below the poverty line.

Which of the following Hispanic politicians were top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016?

Marco Rubio Ted Cruz

What Sioux village has been the site of both a U.S. cavalry massacre of Native Americans and a modern protest?

Wounded Knee