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
