Unit 3 Study Guide (AP Gov)
McDonald v. Chicago:
(2010), which ruled the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in one's home is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Explain how The Civil Rights Act of 1964 can be identified as a government response to a Social Movement.
Legislation barring discrimination in public accommodations, employment, or voting, on the basis of color, national origin, race, religion, or sex. The Civil Rights Act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor and enforce the law.
Explain how The Voting Rights Act of 1965 can be identified as a government response to a Social Movement.
Legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in voting, including the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses.
1st Amendment:
Limits powers of Congress regarding speech, assembly, press, petition, and religion.
Selective incorporation:
Limits state regulation of civil rights and liberties by holding that many protections of the Bill of Rights apply to every level of government, not just the federal.
Engel v. Vitale:
(1962), which declared school sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District:
(1969), a case in which the court ruled that public school students could wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War- the Supreme Court established that symbolic speech is protected by the First Amendment.
Wisconsin v. Yoder:
(1972), which held that compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the free exercise clause.
Describe how the Equal Protection clause has been used to support the following social movements: LGBT Rights Movement.
A civil rights movement 1970s) dedicated to combating legal restrictions on LGBTQ+ citizens on the basis of Fourteenth Amendment protections.
Equal protection clause:
A clause of the Fourteenth Amendment stipulating that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The equal protection clause has served as the basis for most legal challenges to discrimination.
Explain how Title IX of the Civil Rights Act Amendments (1972) can be identified as a government response to a Social Movement.
A provision of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prevents schools and universities receiving federal funding from discriminating against female students.
Explain the extent to which states are limited by the doctrine of due process from infringing upon individual rights through the 5th & 6th Amendments.
Both of these amendments restrict all actions that the police and/or court system would want to do to help them convict a criminal. But they are not allowed to do them, because the rights of the people (even IF they are a suspected criminal) will ALWAYS outweigh the interests of the States.
Explain how Brown v. Board of Education can be identified as a government response to a Social Movement.
Brown v. Board: (1954), declared that race-based school segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause; response to Oliver Brown suing the Board of Education on behalf of his daughter having to attend a segregated elementary school- NAACP's Legal Defense Fund sought to prove with this case that segregated public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause- the Supreme Court ruled that "in the field of public education, separate but equal has no place."
Describe how these time, place, and manner regulations demonstrate the effort to balance social order and individual freedom.
Demonstrates effort to balance social order and indiv. freedom, as indiv. freedom should not be prohibited to a great extent, but social order must be maintained by regulations/restrictions on those given freedoms (eg. you can't yell "fire" in a movie theater).
Describe how the Equal Protection clause has been used to support the following social movements: Civil Rights Movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and the civil Rights Movement (1960s), a movement, led by both grassroots and national civil rights organizations, to end segregation and other forms of discrimination against African American citizens.
The Court has on occasion ruled in favor of states' power to restrict individual liberty- give an example of this.
Gitlow v. NewYork: (1925), held that, while the First Amendment applies to the states via the 14th Amendment, the states may prohibit speech having a tendency to cause a danger to public safety.
Describe how New York Times v. US affected the legal understanding of the 1st Amendment Freedom of press?
In New York Times Co. v United States (1971), the Supreme Court reinforced the freedom of the press, establishing a "heavy presumption against prior restraint" even in cases involving national security. This affected the legal understanding of the 1st Amendment freedom of press in that it prevents the government from imprisoning, fining, or imposing civil liability on people/organizations based on what they say/write (except in exceptional circumstances).
7th Amendment:
In certain civil suits, right to trial by a jury.
5th Amendment:
In criminal cases, right to a grand jury indictment and protection from self incrimination/double jeopardy; right to due process of law; in the case that private property is taken for public use, right to just compensation.
Explain how the U.S. Constitution protects individual liberties and rights.
In order to protect indiv. liberties & rights, the U.S. constitution includes a Bill of Rights. In this bill, civil liberties are established, guaranteeing freedoms that protect citizens' opinions, property, etc. against arbitrary gov't interference.
Describe how the Equal Protection clause has been used to support the following social movements: Women's Rights Movement.
National Organization for Women (NOW), an organization founded in 1960 with the goal of advancing the rights of women through legislative and legal challenges to sex discrimination.
8th Amendment:
Prevention of excessive bail, fines; protection from cruel & unusual punishment.
4th Amendment:
Prevents search and seizure from occurring unreasonably; creates rule that one must have a warrant in order to search/arrest someone.
9th Amendment:
Protects rights not listed in the Constitution.
3rd Amendment:
Protects troops from being forcefully quartered in homes.
6th Amendment:
Right to a speedy & public trial by impartial jury; right to confront the witness(es); right to ask witnesses on your side to defend you; right to a defense counsel.
2nd Amendment:
Right to keep and bear arms.
Explain how Roe v. Wade acts as an example of the following: While a right to privacy is not explicitly named in the Constitution, the court has interpreted the due process clause to protect the right of privacy from infringement.
Roe v. Wade: (1973), which extended the right of privacy to a woman's decision to have an abortion while recognizing compelling state interests in potential life and maternal health; abortion rights fall within the privacy implied in the 14th amendment.
Describe how the (Schenck v. US) Clear and Present Danger Test demonstrates the effort to balance social order and individual freedom.
Schneck v. US (1919) was a case in which the court ruled that the freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. The Constitution's First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a "clear and present danger." Again, this balances social order and indiv. freedom by exclusively preventing inherently threatening forms of expression.
Explain the implications of the doctrine of selective incorporation.
Selective incorporation, a constitutional doctrine that ensures that states cannot create laws that infringe or take away the constitutional rights of citizens, is supported by the Fourteenth Amendment. The doctrine of selective incorporation has imposed on state regulation of civil rights and liberties as represented by:
Describe an example of how the Court has at times allowed the restriction of the civil rights of minority groups.
State laws and Supreme Court holdings restricting African American access to the same restaurants, hotels, schools, etc., as the majority white population based on the "separate but equal" doctrine.
Describe how the Miller Test demonstrates the effort to balance social order and individual freedom.
The Miller Test is the primary legal test for determining whether expression constitutes defamatory, offensive, and obscene statements and gestures; this works to balance social order and indiv. freedom in that it provides clear guidelines on whether the expression is a threat to social order.
Explain the extent to which states are limited by the doctrine of due process from infringing upon individual rights through the Miranda Rule.
The Miranda rule involves the interpretation and application of accused persons' due process rights as protected by the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, yet the Supreme Court has sanctioned a public safety exception that allows unwarned interrogation to stand as direct evidence in court.
Explain the extent to which the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendments reflects a commitment to individual liberty.
The Supreme Court's decisions on the Second Amendment rest upon its constitutional interpretation of individual liberty- the right to bear arms in an individual right.
Explain the reasoning used by both sides of the debate surrounding the issue of Affirmative Action.
The debate on affirmative action includes justices who insist that the Constitution is colorblind and those who maintain that it forbids only racial classifications designed to harm minorities, not help them.
Explain how the Supreme Court has attempted to balance claims of individual freedom with laws and enforcement procedures that promote public order and safety, by creating the Exclusionary Rule. (Mapp v. Ohio)
The exclusionary rule, which stipulates that evidence illegally seized by law enforcement officers in violation of the suspect's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, cannot be used against that suspect in criminal prosecution, helping to balance citizen concerns regarding these issues.
Explain the extent to which the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendments reflects a commitment to individual liberty.
The interpretation and application of the First Amendment's establishment and free exercise clauses reflect an ongoing debate over balancing majoritarian religions' practice and free exercise.
Due process:
The legal requirement that an individual's rights must be respected by a state or government; protected at the federal level by the Fifth Amendment, and at the state level by the Fourteenth.
10th Amendment:
The people have all powers not prohibited in the Constitution or delegated to the federal government.
