POLSCI Ch 4
Ninth Amendment
"The enumeration of the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Whren v. United States (1996)
plain view exception
Which of the following amendments contains a due process clause?
14th
In the Constitution, procedural due process is protected by the
4-6th, 14th
The right to counsel is guaranteed by the ________ Amendment.
6th
Roe v. Wade (1973)
abortion: right to privacy.
The inevitable discovery exception
allows the use of evidence that would have been discovered regardless by other means or through other forms of evidence.
Gideon v. Wainright (1963)
extended the right to a government-provided attorney to defendants in state courts.
The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition are found in
first amendment
prior restraint
government prohibition of speech or publication before it occurs
The conviction of members of the U.S. Communist Party in the early 1950s was initially upheld as a lawful restriction of the right
of free speech
procedural due process
procedures that authorities must follow before a person can lawfully be punished for an offense.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the justices
reaffirmed the essential aspects of Roe v. Wade.
The inclusion of certain provisions of the Bill of Rights in the Fourteenth Amendment, so that these rights are protected from infringements by the state governments, is called
selective incorporation
The Supreme Court has reasoned that a right of privacy is provided by
the implication of said right by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from
unreasonable searches
The individual right that is widely regarded as the most basic of individual rights in a democracy is
freedom of expression
The individual right that is widely regarded as the most basic of individual rights is
freedom of expression.
Gideon v. Wainwright required the states to
furnish attorneys for poor defendants in felony cases.
In the case of McNabb v. United States, Justice Felix Frankfurter defined the "history of liberty" primarily in terms of whether
governments had observed procedural guarantees.
The USA Patriot Act
grants the government new powers of surveillance, relaxed restrictions on the sharing of intelligence surveillance information with criminal investigators, gives intelligence agencies the authority to share crime-related information with law enforcement agencies, was enacted in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Supreme Court
has generally protected symbolic speech, though less substantially than it has protected verbal speech.
Hall v. Florida (2014)
invalidated Florida's use of a specific IQ score of 69 or lower as the strict cutoff for determining mental disability in capital murder cases.
Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie (2014)
landmark ruling in which police without a warrant searched a suspect's cell phone after an arrest. Cell phones contain large amounts of personal information; the search of a cell phone requires a warrant except in extreme circumstances such as need to prevent imminent serious crimes like terrorist attacks.
USA Patriot Act
lowered the standard for judicial approval of wiretapping when terrorist activity was at issue. It also allowed information from intelligence surveillance to be shared with criminal investigators when evidence was found of criminal activity unrelated to terrorism. It also gave government increased authority to examine medical, financial, and student records and allowed the government in some situations to secretly search homes and offices (so-called "sneak and peek" searches. Supreme Court has not yet taken it up...
Like all other rights, the right of free expression is
not absolute.
The conviction of members of the U.S. Communist Party in the early 1950s was initially upheld as a lawful restriction of the right
of free speech.
The Supreme Court's position on prior restraint of the press is that
prior restraint should apply only in rare circumstances, and it is better to hold the press responsible for what it has printed than to restrict what it may print
The Supreme Court's position on prior restraint of the press is that
prior restraint should apply only in rare circumstances, and it is better to hold the press responsible for what it has printed than to restrict what it may print.
Fifth Amendment
protection against self-incrimination: right to remain silent and to be protected against coercion by law enforcement officials. Protection against double jeopardy; and the right to due process.
Fourth Amendment
protection from unreasonable search and seizure; police must have probable cause in order to arrest.
Good Faith exception to exclusionary rule
Evidence discovered under a faulty warrant can be admitted if the police believed they were following proper procedures.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)
Gitmo detainee who was a US citizen had the right to be heard in U.S. courts. Earlier the court had ruled that Gitmo was under the jurisdiction of U.S. courts by virtue of being on land leased by the U.S. even though in Cuba.
Dickerson v. United States (2000)
reaffirmed the Miranda decision, saying it is an established "constitutional rule" that Congress could not abolish by ordinary legislation.
Justice Holmes's "clear and present danger" test holds that government can
restrict speech that threatens national security
Justice Holmes's "clear and present danger" test holds that government can
restrict speech that threatens national security.
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
right of privacy DID NOT EXTEND to consensual sexual relations among adults of the same sex.
appeals process
right to appeal is not specifically in the Constitution but the federal government and all states allow at least one appeal. The Court ruled that the appeal process cannot discriminate against poor defendants.
Sixth amendment
right to counsel/right to an attorney; right to prompt and reasonable proceedings
Lemon test
see Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971) Government policy must meet all three conditions to be lawful: first, the policy must have a nonreligious purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; finally, the policy must not foster "an excessive government entanglement with religion."
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from
unreasonable searches.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
upheld Missouri law prohibiting abortions from being performed in the state's publicly funded medical facilities.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
upheld PA law requiring minors to have parental or judicial consent before obtaining an abortion.
Government can lawfully prevent a political rally from taking place
when it can demonstrate that harmful acts will necessarily result from the rally
Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the
written word.
due process
You cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without proper legal proceedings
Felker v. Turpin (1996)
bars in most instances a second federal appeal by a state prison inmate, to prevent frivolous and multiple federal court appeals.
Exclusionary Rule
bars the use in some circumstances of evidence that was obtained in violation of a defendant's rights.
Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965
right to privacy; a case a state law prohibiting the use of birth control. Rather than invoking the Ninth Amendment, the Court's majority reasoned that the freedoms in the Bill of Rights imply an underlying right to privacy.
The inclusion of certain provisions of the Bill of Rights in the Fourteenth Amendment, so that these rights are protected from infringements by the state governments, is called
selective incorporation.
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
the Supreme Court ruled that the establishment clause prohibits the reciting of prayers in public schools.
According to the Supreme Court, state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates
the establishment clause
. In Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), the Supreme Court justices determined that
the right to privacy did not extend to consensual sexual relations among adults of the same sex.
Spoken words that are known to be false and harmful to a person's reputation are an example of
slander
In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court ruled that
speech could be restricted when the nation's security is at stake.
The Supreme Court has reasoned that a right of privacy is provided by
the implication of said right by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights..
Which of the following, relative to the others, is typically more protective of individual rights?
the judiciary
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
struck down sodomy law in the remaining 13 states that had them (reversing the ruling from Bowers v. Hardwick). Texas's sodomy law violated the "right of privacy" implied by the grant of liberty in the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.
Johnson case, 1989
symbolic speech: burning of the U.S. flag is a lawful form of expression. the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.
________ has executed more convicted criminals in the past quarter century than any other state.
texas
McCullen V. Coakley (2014)
the Court invalidated a Massachusetts law that prohibited anti-abortion advocates from protesting within 35 feet of an abortion clinic.
Schenk v. United States (1919)
the Court upheld the 1917 Espionage Act. It established the clear-and-present-danger test for determining when government can legally restrict speech.
The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition are found in
the First Amendment
United States v. Leon (1984)
Good faith exception to the Exclusionary rule. Evidence discovered under a faulty warrant can be admitted if the police believed they were following proper procedures.
Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)
Supreme Court for the first time upheld a ban on a type of abortion: Partial-birth abortion.
"You have the right to remain silent....Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law....You have the right to an attorney." This is called
the Miranda warning.
Missouri v. Siebert (2004)
further strengthened Miranda precedent.
hate speech vs hate crime
hate speech is protected free speech; actual crime is not.
Nix v. Williams (1984)
inevitable discovery exception
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
the libel of a public official requires proof of actual malice
Gideon v. Wainwright is to the Sixth Amendment as Mapp v. Ohio is to the
4th
Which constitutional amendment protects the individual against self-incrimination?
5th
Brandenberg v. Ohio (1969)
A state cannot prohibit free speech that advocates the unlawful use of force unless it meets a two-part test: the speech must be 'directed at inciting or producitng imminent lawless action' and it must be 'likely to produce such actoin'.
free exercise clause
Americans are free to hold any religious belief of their choosing.
Sedition Act of 1798
Congress ignored the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression and made it a crime to print harshly critical newspaper stories about the president or other national officials. Jefferson pardoned those who had been convicted but the Court never ruled on it.
Johnson v. Zerbst (1938)
Court held that criminal defendants in federal cases must be provided an attorney at the government expense if they cannot afford one; prior to this poor people had to act as their own attorneys.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006)
Court ruled that secret military tribunals were unlawful because they did not provide even minimal protections of detainees' rights, including the right to see the evidence against them.
Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968)
Court ruling against deliberately stacked juries in the prosecution favor in death penalty cases.
The Miranda warning was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2000 in
Dickerson v. United States.
Voluntary school prayer in the public schools was ruled unconstitutional in
Engel v. Vitale (1962).
inevitable discovery exception to exclusionary rule
Exclusion of physical evidence that would have inevitably been discovered adds nothing to either the integrity or fairness of a criminal trial even if rights were violated.
FISA: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
Expressly prohibited wiretaps of international phone calls and email messages originating in the U.S.; the Patriot Act went above this act.
Which constitutional amendment protects the individual against self-incrimination?
Fifth
Justice Stone argued in 1938 that
First Amendment rights are the basis of most other rights.
Gitlow v New York
In 1925, the Court upheld New York's law making it illegal to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, yet it ruled that states do not have complete power over what they residents can legally say, invoking the Due Process clause.
Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the
Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the
libel vs slanderq
Libel is published; slander is spoken. The courts protect individual much more than public figures.
"You have the right to remain silent....Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law....You have the right to an attorney." This is called the
Miranda warning
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Miranda warnings: Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and the sixth Amendment right to an attorney. (The actual Miranda kidnapper/rapist was retried and convicted on the basis of evidence other than his confession)
Did the Supreme Court initially enforce the due process clause?
No, the Court largely ignored it until Gitlow v New York in 1925.
Since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has addressed the exclusionary rule by
None of these answers is correct.
Which of the following is correct with regard to obscenity and the law?
Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment
Which of the following is correct with regard to obscenity and the law?
Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
Due Process Clause
Part of the Fourteenth Amendment. "No State shall...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Explain the concept of prior restraint of the press. Include one example of how the Supreme Court has ruled on this issue
Prior restraint is government prohibition of speech or publication before the fact. The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional, except in extreme circumstances of national security or public safety, as an illegal restraint on free expression. The burden of proof in such instances is on the government: it must clearly show that a grave danger would result from the publication. The doctrine of prior restraint was detailed in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971).
Explain the concept of procedural due process and list several of the procedural rights protected by the Constitution. Do these rights apply to all levels of government? Explain.
Procedural due process refers to procedures or methods that government must follow before a person can legally be deprived of life, liberty, or property. The U.S. Constitution offers procedural safeguards designed to protect a person from wrongful arrest, conviction, and punishment. These procedures include prohibitions on unreasonable search and seizure, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and excessive bail or fine, and include guarantees of legal counsel, jury trial, speedy trial, and the confrontation of witnesses. These rights apply to the federal government through the Bill of Rights and have been extended to cover state action by selective incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Eighth amendment
Protection against excessive bail or fines; protected from cruel and unusual punishment, although this provision does not protect you from the death penalty or from a long prison term for a minor offense.
Doctrine of selective incorporation
the use of the Fourteenth Amendment to apply selected provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. It is called selective because the Supreme Court has chosen to protect some Bill of Rights guarantees from state action and not others, e.g. the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil cases is not binding on the states.
According to the Supreme Court, which is true regarding freedom of assembly?
Public officials can regulate the time, place, and conditions of public assembly, provided the regulations are reasonable
Bill of Rights
Ratified in 1791. The first ten amendments to the Constitution. At the time of adoption, they applied only to action by the federal government and not also to action by the states. Today, most of the rights contained in the Bill of rights are also protected from action by state governments, a development that owes to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in the aftermath of the Civil War.
The right to privacy was instrumental in which decision?
Roe v. Wade
Which of the following is the only country that comes close to the United States in terms of the percentage of its citizens who are behind bars?
Russia
In 2007 the Supreme Court reversed its stance on partial-birth abortion, largely due to the replacement of Sandra Day O'Connor with
Samuel Alito.
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
Second amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. 5-4 ruling, as the dissenting justices interpret the 'militia' portion of the Amendment.
What is meant by selective incorporation? Discuss the history of this process and its importance to the protection of individual rights.
Selective incorporation refers to the absorption of certain provisions of the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech and press, into the Fourteenth Amendment. These rights are thereby protected from infringement by the states. After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was debated in Congress. There was no indication its framers intended it to protect First Amendment rights, such as freedom of speech and press, from state action. Seventy years later, the Supreme Court invoked the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause in a free speech case, which was followed by a series of cases that established the process of selective incorporation. In doing so, the Court declared certain rights to be a fundamental part of democratic society and, therefore, to be protected from state intervention. At first, the Court included only free expression rights in its interpretation. In the 1960s, selective incorporation was used also to protect fair trial rights.
The right to counsel is guaranteed by the ________ Amendment
Sixth
civil liberties
Specific individual rights, such as the right to a fair trial, that are constitutionally protected against infringement by government.
According to the Supreme Court, what is the status of prayer in the public schools?
State-supported prayers are not allowed in public schools
Which of the following is true about the Sedition Act of 1798?
The Act prohibited malicious newspaper stories about the president.
Which of the following is true of the appeal process?
The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal
Which of the following is true of the appeal process?
The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal.
Near v. Minnesota
The Court invalidated state law restricting expression in the area of free press.
Fiske v. Kansas
The Court invalidated state law restricting expression in the area of free speech.
Hamilton v. Regents, University of California
The Court invalidated state law restricting expression of religion.
DeJonge v. Oregon
The Court invalidated state law restricting the right to assemble and petition.
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
The Court ruled that the Times publication of the 'Pentagon Papers' could not be blocked. "any system of prior restraints" on the press is unconsitutional unless the government can provide a compelling argument for the restriction.
Weeks v. United States (1914)
The Exclusionary Rule: bars the use in some circumstances of evidence that was obtained in violation of a defendant's rights.
United States v Jones (2012)
The Fourth Amendment's protection of "persons, houses, papers, and effects" reasonably extends to private property such as an automobile.
How did the Supreme Court's position on the rights of the accused in state courts change in the 1960s?
The Supreme Court began to protect the rights of the accused from action by the states.
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
The Supreme Court extended the due process clause to include the rights of the criminally accused. It upheld the Fourth Amendment: evidence acquired during unconstitutional search cannot be used to obtain a conviction in state courts.
How has the Supreme Court interpreted the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment in recent years? Explain.
The Supreme Court has typically let Congress and the state legislatures determine the appropriate penalties for crime. It has upheld some challenged state punishments in high profile cases, and some states continue to have extremely high incarceration and execution rates. With regard to the death penalty, however, the Court has placed some limits on states' ability to execute prisoners, particularly mentally retarded and juvenile ones.
roadblocks to check BAC vs roadblocks searching for drugs
The court justified roadblocks checking for impaired drivers due to highway safety but ruled that narcotics roadblocks serve a general law enforcement purpose rather than one specific to highway safety and therefore violate the Fourth Amendment's requirement that police have suspicion of wrongdoing before they can search an individual's vehicle.
Discuss the differences between the First Amendment's establishment and free exercise clauses.
The establishment clause has been interpreted by the courts as meaning that the government may not favor one religion over another or support religion over no religion at all. Thus, a wall of separation must be maintained between church and state. The free exercise clause means that Americans are free to hold any religious beliefs they want, although they are not always free to act on their beliefs. The Supreme Court has allowed government interference when the exercise of religious belief conflicts with otherwise valid law.
Clear-and-present-danger test
The government must demonstrate that spoken or written expression presents a clear and present danger before it can prohibit the expression. Over the past six decades not a single individual has been convicted solely for criticizing the government's ware policy.
According to the Supreme Court, prayer in public schools violates
the establishment clause.
Snyder v. Phelps
Westboro Baptist Church...The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of WBC and overturned Snyder's father's award for emotional distress during their protest near the son's funeral.
According to the Supreme Court, prior restraint on the press is only acceptable if
the government can clearly justify the restriction.
establishment clause
the government may not favor one religion over another or support religion against no religion.
Double jeopardy
You cannot be tried twice for the same crime if the first trial results in a verdict of innocence
Prompt and reasonable proceedings
You have a right to be arraigned promptly; to be informed of the charges, to confront witnesses, and to have a speedy and open trial by an impartial jury.
The Supreme Court upheld the use of tax-supported vouchers to attend private or parochial school in
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.
What is the greatest restriction on appeals in the United States?
a federal law that bars in most instances a second federal appeal by a state prison inmate
actual malice
a knowing or reckless disregard for the truth. Actual malice is very difficult to prove. No federal official has won a libel judgment against a news organization in the five decades since the Sullivan ruling.
civil rights
a question of whether members of differing groups - racial, sexual, religious, and the like - are treated equally by government, and in some cases, by private parties.
grand jury indictment
a requirement of the Fifth amendment for FEDERAL crimes. This protection has NOT been incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment, so states are not required to use grand juries. Roughly half the states use grand juries; in the rest, the prosecutor decides whether to proceed.
wall of separation doctrine
a strict separation of church and state
The individual freedoms in the Bill of Rights were extended by the Fourteenth Amendment to include protection from deprivation of due process rights by
actions of state and local governments
The individual freedoms in the Bill of Rights were extended by the Fourteenth Amendment to include protection from deprivation of due process rights by
actions of state and local governments.
plain view exception to exclusionary rule
admissibility of evidence found in plain sight even when the evidence relates to an infraction other than the one in which the individual was stopped.
When can police legally begin their interrogation of a suspect?
after the suspect has been warned that his or her words can be used as evidence
What Illinois policy did the Supreme Court invalidate with its decision in Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968)?
allowing the prosecution an unlimited number of challenges in capital cases
accommodation doctrine
allows government to aid religious activity if no preference is shown toward a particular religion and if the assistance is of a nonreligious nature.
imminent lawless action
an imposing barrier to any government attempt to restrict speech since it is extremely rare for words alone to incite people into actual lawless action.
The term "civil liberties" refers to specific individual rights that
are constitutionally protected from infringement by government
The term civil liberties refers to specific individual rights that
are constitutionally protected from infringement by government
If a person yells "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire, and people are hurt in the ensuing panic, that individual abused his freedom of speech according to the doctrine of
clear and present danger
In Mapp v. Ohio, the selective incorporation process was extended to include
criminal proceedings in the states.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
departure from the wall of separation docrine: allowed school vouchers in Cleveland.
In a 2004 case involving the issue of whether a U.S. citizen accused of terrorist acts is entitled to constitutional protections, the Supreme Court held that such citizens
do have the right to a judicial hearing.
The Lemon test is designed to
ensure the secular nature of a government action.
Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971
established the Lemon test for government involvement in religion.
The exclusionary rule states that
evidence obtained illegally is inadmissible in court
The exclusionary rule states that
evidence obtained illegally is inadmissible in court.
The establishment clause prohibits government from
favoring one religion over another or supporting religion over no religion.
In theJohnsonflag-burning case, the Supreme Court ruled that
flag burning, although offensive, cannot be prohibited
In the Johnson flag-burning case, the Supreme Court ruled that
flag burning, although offensive, cannot be prohibited.