Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment Quiz

Selective incorporation

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

Direct incitement test

Holds that the advocacy of illegal action is protected by the First Amendment unless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur.

Ex post facto law

Law that makes an act punishable as a crime even if the action was legal at the time it was committed.

Double jeopardy

Part of the Fifth Amendment that protects individuals from being tried for the same offense in the same jurisdiction.

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

Pennsylvania could limit abortions so long as its regulations did not pose "an undue burden" on pregnant women.

14th Amendment (1868)

Possibility that some or even all of the protections guaranteed by Bill might be interpreted to prevent state infringement.

Second Amendment

The right to bear arms

Fundamental freedoms

Those rights defined by the Court to be essential to order, liberty, and justice and therefore entitled to the highest standard of review.

Slander

Untrue spoken statements that defame a character of a person.

US v. Miller (1939)

Upheld constitutionality of National Firearms Act, stating that the Second Amendment was intended to protect a citizen's right to own ordinary militia weapons.

Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

Upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Fighting words

Words that "by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace." Are not subject to the restrictions of the First Amendment.

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties.

Establishment clause

First clause of the First Amendment; it directs the national government not to sanction on official religion.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Florida Supreme Court denied that the 6th amendment gives right to counsel in state courts. SCOTUS incorporated the right to counsel in the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protected students from being forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in school.

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

Georgia's rewritten death penalty statute was ruled Constitutional.

Article 1 of the Constitution

Guarantees a number of rights for those accused of crimes: most notably has writ of habeas corpus, prohibits ex post facto laws, and prohibits bills of attainder.

Sixth Amendment

Guarantees to an accused person "the Assistance of Counsel in his defense." Set out basic requirements of procedural due process for federal courts to follow in criminal trials, including speedy and public trials, impartial juries, trials in the state where crime was committed, notice of the charges, and the right to confront and obtain favorable witnesses.

Church of Lukumi Babalu v. City of Hialeah (1993)

Held that an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida, forbidding the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption", was unconstitutional.

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Held that individuals arrested for a crime must be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counsel present.

Westside School District v. Mergens (1990)

Held that the club could hold their meetings, however their sponsor could not be paid; this would truly be an endorsement of religion.

Inevitable discovery

Illegally seized evidence may be introduced if it would have been likely to be discovered in the course of continuing investigation.

First Amendment

Imposes a number of restrictions on the federal government with respect to civil liberties, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Dejonge v. Oregon (1937)

Incorporated the First Amendment's freedom of assembly clause to apply to the states.

Incorporation Doctrine

Interpretation of the Constitution that holds that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that state and local governments must also guarantee the rights stated in the Bill of Rights.

Texas v. Johnson

Invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that the defendant Gregory Lee Johnson's act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Anti-federalist arguments pro-Bill of Rights

-Increased power by new national government -Could control actions of state legislatures, but couldn't trust national government to be protective of civil liberties

Federalist argument anti-Bill of Rights

-Unnecessary in a constitutional republic founded on idea of popular sovereignty and inalienable natural rights -Unnecessary because state constitutions contained bills of rights -Would be "dangerous" (Federalist 84), since national government was a government of enumerated powers. -Impractical to enforce because its validity would depend on public opinion

USA PATRIOT Act and the Fourth Amendment

1) Allows the government to examine an individual's private records held by third parties 2) Expands the government's right to search private property without notice to the owner 3) Expands a narrow exception to the Fourth Amendment that had been created for the collection of foreign intelligence information 4) Expands an exception for spying that collects "addressing information" about where and to whom communications are going 5) Government does not have to produce a warrant or probable cause for searches

Equal protection clause

A clause that provides for equal protection of the laws

Bill of attainder

A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.

Internal Security Act of 1950

Act required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons suspected of engaging in subversive activities or otherwise promoting the establishment of a "totalitarian dictatorship," either fascist or communist.

Everson v. Board of Education (1947)

Applied the Establishment Clause in the country's Bill of Rights to State law; case was brought by a New Jersey taxpayer against a tax funded school district that provided reimbursement to parents of both public and private schooled children taking the public transportation system to school.

Endorsement Test

Asks whether a particular government action amounts to an endorsement of religion, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Exclusionary rule

Bars police from using illegally seized evidence at a trial; created by Weeks v. US (1914)

Due process clause

Clause contained in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments; over the years, it has been construed to guarantee to individuals a variety of rights.

Prior restraint

Constitutional doctrine that prevents the government from prohibiting speech or publication before the fact; generally held to be in violation of the First Amendment.

Fourth Amendment

Protects people from unreasonable searches by the federal government. Sets out what may not be searched without a warrant.

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1989)

Court articulated the fighting words doctrine, a limitation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.

Reynolds v. United States (1952)

Court held that religious duty was not a defense to a criminal indictment.

Writ of habeas corpus

Court orders in which a judge requires authorities to prove that a prisoner is being held lawfully and that allow the prisoner to be freed if the judge is not persuaded by the government's case. Implies that prisoners have a right to know what charges are being made against them.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Court sided with the government, ruling that the Executive Order 9066 was constitutional; held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu's individual rights, and the rights of Americans of Japanese descent.

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)

Court upheld state-required fetal viability tests in the second trimester.

Citizenship clause of fourteenth amendment

Defines citizenship and forbids states from violating a citizen's "privileges and immunities"

Tenth Amendment

Defines the basic principle of American federalism in stating that powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or to the people.

Roth Test

Established by Roth v. US (1957), which held that, to be considered obscene, the material in question had to be "utterly without redeeming social importance," and "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interests."

Coercion test

Established in Lee v. Weisman, seeks to determine whether the state has applied coercive pressure on an individual to support or participate in religion.

Carroll v. United States (1925)

Establishes warrantless searches are constitutional if there's probable cause

Substantive due process

Judicial interpretation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments' due process clauses that protects citizens from arbitrary or unjust state or federal laws.

Procedural due process

Legal doctrine that requires government officials to follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property.

Lemon test

Practice or policy was constitutional if it 1) had a legitimate secular purpose; 2) neither advanced nor inhibited religion; and 3) did not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.

Third Amendment

Prohibition against quartering of troops in private homes

Eighth Amendment

Prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments," excessive bail, or excessive fines.

Ninth Amendment

Makes clear that enumerating rights in the Constitution does not mean that others do not exist.

USA PATRIOT Act and the First Amendment

PATRIOT Act violates First Amendment free speech guarantees by barring those who have been subject to search orders from telling anyone about those orders, even in situations where no need for secrecy can be proven. Also allows FBI to investigate people who choose to exercise their freedom of speech with no need to prove that their speech is illegal.

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (David Kurtzman) from 1968 was unconstitutional, violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The act allowed the Superintendent of Public Schools to reimburse private schools (mostly Catholic) for the salaries of teachers who taught in these private schools, from public textbooks and with public instructional materials.

Fifth Amendment

Provides a variety of guarantees that protect those who have been charged with a crime: provides for indictment by a grand jury, protection against self-incrimination, prevents national government from denying a person life/liberty/property w/o due process of law, and can't take property without just compensation.

Seventh Amendment

Right to a trial by jury in civil suits

Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

SCOTUS fashioned a new test for deciding whether certain kinds of speech could be regulated by the government: the direct incitement test.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

SCOTUS found that a woman's right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

SCOTUS held that "actual malice" must be proven to support a finding of libel against a public figure.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

SCOTUS held that "all evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution, is inadmissible in a state court."

New York Times Co. v. US (1971)

SCOTUS held that US government could not block the publication of secret Department of Defense documents illegally furnished to the Times by anti-war activists.

Near v. Minnesota (1931)

SCOTUS held that a state law violated the First Amendment's freedom of the press

RAV v. City of Paul (1992)

SCOTUS held that a white teen who burned a cross on a black family's front lawn, thereby committing a hate crime, could not be charged under existing state ordinance because the First Amendment prevents governments from "silencing speech on the basis of its content."

Weeks v. US (1914)

SCOTUS held that allowing police and prosecutors to use the "fruits of a poisonous tree" would only encourage that activity.

Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart (1976)

SCOTUS held that any attempt by the government to prevent expression carried "a heavy presumption against its constitutionality."

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

SCOTUS held that recitation in public schools of a brief nondenominational prayer drafted by the local school board was unconstitutional.

Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)

SCOTUS held that state-mandated Bible readings or recitation of the Lord's Prayer in public schools is unconstitutional

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

SCOTUS held that states were not completely free to limit forms of political expression, that certain rights are "fundamental personal rights and liberties" protected by Due process clause

Palko v. Connecticut (1937)

SCOTUS held that the due process clause bound states only to those rights that were "of the very essence of a scheme of ordered liberty." OVERRULED IN 1969

Stromberg v. California (1931)

SCOTUS overturned a communist youth camp director's conviction under a state statute prohibiting the display of a red flag, a symbol of opposition to the US government.

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

SCOTUS put an end to capital punishment in the short run, ruling that because the death penalty was imposed in an arbitrary manner, it constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

SCOTUS ruled that Bill of Rights limited only the actions of the national government and not those of the states.

DC v. Heller (2008)

SCOTUS ruled that the Second Amendment protected an individual's right to own a firearm for personal use in Washington, DC. 2010, SCOTUS broadened ownership rights and incorporated the Second Amendment into the Due process clause.

Schenck v. US (1919)

SCOTUS upheld the Espionage Act of 1917, ruling that Congress had a right to restrict speech "of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." (CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TEST)

Tinker vs. Des Moines (1969)

SCOTUS upheld the right of high school students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.

Lee v. Weisman (1992)

Schools may not sponsor clerics to conduct even non-denominational prayer

Free exercise clause

Second clause of the First Amendment; it prohibits the US government from interfering with a citizen's right to practice his or her religion.

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Seven justices decided that the various portions of Bill of Rights, including the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments, cast "penumbras" (unstated liberties in the shadow of more explicitly stated rights), creating zones of privacy. Connecticut statue was thus ruled unconstitutional because it violated marital privacy.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Six members of the Court overruled its decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld the anti-sodomy laws.

Employment Division v. Smith (1990)

State could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual

Miranda rights

Statements that must be made by the police informing a suspect of his or her constitutional rights protected by the Fifth Amendment, including the right to an attorney provided by the court if the suspect cannot afford one.

Symbolic speech

Symbols, signs, and other methods of expression generally considered to be protected by the First Amendment.

Civil rights

The government-protected rights of individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by governments or individuals.

Civil liberties

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

Right to privacy

The right to be left alone; a judicially created principle encompassing a variety of individual actions protected by the penumbras cast by several constitutional amendments, including the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

Civil Liberties in the Constitution: WTPLNNNNG

Writ of habeas corpus; trial by jury in federal courts for criminal cases; protection for citizens moving from one state to the next; limits on punishments for treason; no ex post facto laws; no bills of attainder; no titles of nobility; no religious oaths for taking public office; guarantee of republican government for all states

Libel

Written statement that defames a person's character.