AP Gov My AP: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Which of the following statements best describes how United States citizens regard the rights of free speech and assembly?

A A majority agrees in principle with these rights, but in practice many people are often intolerant of views they do not support.

To enforce the Fourteenth Amendment more clearly, Congress passed the

A Civil Rights Act of 1964

All of the following statements reflect positions the Supreme Court has taken with regard to the right of free speech EXCEPT:

B There are no acceptable governmental restrictions on free speech.

The free-exercise clause protects

C voluntary prayer by student groups before school

Which of the following rulings is most likely to cite the Supreme Court's decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) as a legal precedent in support of the decision?

A A ruling in favor of students to print their opinions in a school newspaper

In which of the following situations would the Supreme Court be most likely to utilize the doctrine of selective incorporation?

A When an individual claims that a right protected by the Bill of Rights is infringed upon by a state

The Supreme Court established the incorporation doctrine when the Court

A interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as extending most of the requirements of the Bill of Rights to the states as well as the federal government

The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that upheld a woman's right to secure an abortion was based on the right to

A privacy implied in the Bill of Rights

The Supreme Court's decision about abortion in Roe v. Wade was based on

A the right to privacy implied in the Bill of Rights

Writing for the court in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), a case weighing whether race can be considered in college admissions, Justice Lewis Powell wrote: "Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids. . . . The . . . goal asserted by petitioner is the attainment of a diverse student body. This clearly is a constitutionally permissible goal for an institution of higher education. . . . The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body." According to the quote, what is the likely effect of the Court's ruling in the Bakke case?

A. Colleges can consider race but cannot use strict racial quotas in admission practices.

A writ of habeas corpus refers to...

A. a person's right to know the reasons for his or her imprisonment

With respect to prayer in public schools, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that

A. state-sponsored prayer violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment

According to the clear and present danger test, speech may be restricted

A. when it incites violent action

Which of the following applications of affirmative action would the United States Supreme Court likely consider unconstitutional?

B A state university refuses acceptance of any new applicants from a specific race.

Interest groups are protected under the Constitution by the

B First Amendment

In Engel v. Vitale (1962), which of the following provides the legal reasoning behind the Supreme Court's ruling?

B It ruled that the state had no justifiable interest to compel students to listen to a nondenominational prayer led by public school teachers, finding a clear establishment clause violation.

"Just as the Fourth Amendment's right to privacy has been declared enforceable against the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth, it is enforceable by the same sanction . . . as is used against the federal government. Were it otherwise, . . . the assurance against unreasonable searches and seizures would be 'a form of words,' valueless . . . 'in the concept of ordered liberty." Justice Tom Clark, Mapp v. Ohio (1961) Which two principles are addressed in the excerptabove? I.The incorporation doctrine II. The concept of eminent domain III. The exclusionary rule IV. The "wall of separation" doctrine

B. I and III

Which of the following is a principle underlying the Bill of Rights?

B. Some rights are fundamental and should not be subject to majoritarian control.

Which of the following scenarios, related to the First Amendment, best illustrates the "right . . . to petition the Government . . ." ?

C A citizen calls a member of Congress to persuade her to vote yes on a bill.

Which of the following scenarios illustrates an action that would be protected by the free exercise clause in the First Amendment?

C A person wears a necklace bearing a Christian cross to work.

The federal Constitution guarantees all of the following rights to a person arrested and charged with a serious crime EXCEPT the right to

C negotiate a plea bargain

Jim Crow laws, still in place in the early 1960s in the South, were outlawed by the

C passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

In the case Boynton v. Virginia (1960), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation at a bus stop restaurant was illegal based on the Interstate Commerce Act. Which of the following explains how this case is similar to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ?

D Both cases struck down local ordinances that prescribed segregation.

The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a significant political event because it

D was instrumental in increasing the number of African American and other minority voters

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court stated that the plaintiffs "seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a non-segregated basis. In each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race." The Supreme Court ruled "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Which of the following provisions of the United States Constitution did the Supreme Court use to strike down racial segregation in state public schools?

D. The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Which of the following is one of the central concerns of the First Amendment?

D. The right of citizens to petition the government for redress of grievances

Most of the individual protections of the Bill of Rights now apply to the states because of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution's

E Fourteenth Amendment

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was a significant Supreme Court ruling because it

E held the "separate but equal" concept to be a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

The Constitution and its amendments expressly prohibit all of the following EXCEPT

E sex discrimination in employment

"The original understanding of the Second Amendment was neither an individual right to self-defense nor a collective right of the states, but rather a civic right that guaranteed that citizens would be able to keep and bear those arms needed to meet their legal obligation to participate in a well-regulated militia. Nothing better captured this constitutional ideal than the minuteman. Citizens had a legal obligation to outfit themselves with a musket at their own expense and were expected to turn out at a minute's notice to defend their community, state, and eventually their nation. Although each side in the modern debate claims to be faithful to the historical Second Amendment, a restoration of its original meaning, re-creating the world of the minuteman, would be a nightmare that neither side would welcome. It would certainly involve more intrusive gun regulation, not less. . . . Gun control advocates might blanch at the notion that all Americans would be required to receive firearms training and would certainly look askance at the idea of requiring all able-bodied citizens to purchase their own military-style assault weapons." Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America, Oxford University Press, 2006 Which of the following could be used as evidence to support the author's claim?

A At the time the Constitution was written, laws in the states required able-bodied individuals to serve in militias.

Which of the following is true about the right of free speech, as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court?

A It protects the right to express opinions even without the actual use of words.

Which of the following scenarios best explains the inclusion of Title IX as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 ?

A Members of Congress added the amendment to the bill in response to social movements seeking to address inequality in education for women.

Which of the following was an argument used by the Supreme Court in upholding federal statutes outlawing segregation in public accommodations?

A Such segregation affected interstate commerce, and Congress therefore had the authority to outlaw it.

It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case. The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the Nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much. This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. President John F. Kennedy, Report to the American People on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963 Which of the following pieces of legislation was most likely a result of the passage?

A The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The "Miranda warning" represents an attempt to protect criminal suspects against

A unfair police interrogation

Which of the following would most likely be protected by the First Amendment?

B A student wears a black armband at school to protest government involvement in a war.

A school district in Seattle used the race of students as a tie-breaking factor to determine which students would be admitted to the more popular schools in an attempt to maintain racial diversity. In the case Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007), the Supreme Court ruled this plan unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Which of the following statements offers the most accurate comparison between this case and the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ?

B Both cases ruled against the school district based on the equal protection clause.

In the case Guey Heung Lee v. Johnson (1971), the parents of Chinese American students who attended a primarily Asian American school challenged San Francisco's effort to desegregate the public schools, arguing that their culture and language would be diluted if their children were dispersed from their local school. The Supreme Court denied the challenge from the parents basing their decision on the Fourteenth Amendment. Which of the following cases was most likely used in the decision as a precedent?

B Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

To which level of government did the Bill of Rights originally apply?

B Federal government only

Which of the following best describes a purpose of the Establishment Clause?

B It prohibits Congress from establishing a state religion.

In the majority opinion of a United States Supreme Court case, Justice Alito wrote, "we now turn directly to the question whether the...right to keep and bear arms is incorporated in the concept of due process. In answering that question, . . . we must decide whether the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty." Which Supreme Court case is most aligned with Justice Alito's reasoning to treat gun ownership for self-defense as a fundamental liberty?

B McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

The following questions are based on the following excerpt from a major Supreme Court decision. "Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone..." ...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently inequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs...are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." The doctrine of "separate by equal" referred to above had previously been upheld by which of the following Supreme Court decisions?

B Plessy v Ferguson, 1896

Which of the following best defines civil liberties?

B Provisions in the Bill of Rights that provide guarantees against arbitrary interference by government

The Supreme Court ruled in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) that a citizen's right to keep and bear arms at home for self-defense is protected from state and federal infringement. Which of the following is most relevant to that decision?

B Selective incorporation

Which of the following amendments to the Constitution most likely provides the basis for a driver to challenge the constitutionality of police use of sobriety checkpoints in enforcing drunk driving laws?

B The Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure

In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the United States Supreme Court stated, "that the [Constitution] protects the right to possess a handgun in the home for the purpose of self-defense" and that the Second Amendment applied to the states through which of the following constitutional clauses?

B The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

A woman is arrested for possessing illegal substances that were obtained after a warrantless search of her home by local police. Which of the following best explains whether the evidence could be used in a criminal trial?

B The exclusionary rule, derived from the Fourth Amendment, prevents the evidence from being used against the suspect.

Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade are similar Supreme Court cases in that both cases are based on the

B right of privacy

"The original understanding of the Second Amendment was neither an individual right to self-defense nor a collective right of the states, but rather a civic right that guaranteed that citizens would be able to keep and bear those arms needed to meet their legal obligation to participate in a well-regulated militia. Nothing better captured this constitutional ideal than the minuteman. Citizens had a legal obligation to outfit themselves with a musket at their own expense and were expected to turn out at a minute's notice to defend their community, state, and eventually their nation. Although each side in the modern debate claims to be faithful to the historical Second Amendment, a restoration of its original meaning, re-creating the world of the minuteman, would be a nightmare that neither side would welcome. It would certainly involve more intrusive gun regulation, not less. . . . Gun control advocates might blanch at the notion that all Americans would be required to receive firearms training and would certainly look askance at the idea of requiring all able-bodied citizens to purchase their own military-style assault weapons." Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America, Oxford University Press, 2006 The author's main argument is that the Second Amendment

B was added to the Constitution to ensure that militias would have arms

The United States Supreme Court has used which of the following to incorporate the Bill of Rights into state law?

B. The Fourteenth Amendment

In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the United States Supreme Court stated that, "[s]elf-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day" and that an individual's right to bear arms was "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition." The quote points to which of the following amendments to the United States Constitution as a basis to limit state action?

B. The Second Amendment

If a college's admission policy to reserve twenty seats in its incoming class for applicants belonging to racial minority groups is challenged in the courts, a judge is likely to

B. strike down the policy because reserving seats amounts to a quota system

Which of the following illustrates a situation that would not be protected by the First Amendment due to time, place, and manner restrictions?

C Antibusiness protestors are arrested and prosecuted for shutting down major intersections in New York City's Times Square during rush hour.

Discrimination in public accommodations was made illegal in the United States as a direct result of the

C Civil Rights Act of 1964

Which of the following scenarios best explains how the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has influenced political behavior?

C Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., cited constitutional arguments as a basis for opposing segregation and inequality.

Which of the following principles protects a citizen from imprisonment without trial?

C Due process

Which of the following constitutional clauses was most relevant in the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade (1973) ?

C Due process clause

It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case. The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the Nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much. This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. President John F. Kennedy, Report to the American People on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963 Which of the following expresses the most significant political concern in the passage?

C Increased awareness of citizen inequalities that need to be addressed

Which of the following is true of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ?

C It has been a major instrument for increasing the number of African American and other minority voters.

Which of the following reflects the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) ?

C It ruled that a woman's right to an abortion was a privacy right incorporated to all of the states.

The establishment clause in the First Amendment does which of the following?

C Prohibits the setting up of a state church.

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of rights protected and not protected by the First Amendment?

C Protected by the First Amendment: The right to burn a flag Not Protected by the First Amendment: Obscenity

Which of the following Supreme Court cases establishes that a woman has a due process right to make a decision whether or not to have an abortion?

C Roe v. Wade (1973)

The United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was based on which of the following?

C The Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government . . ." ". . . Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men. . . . Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides. He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns." Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 Which of the following best captures a portion of the author's argument?

C The government has made women subservient by denying them the right to vote.

The Washington Post receives a top secret report that details how the executive branch mishandled a deal made with a foreign nation regarding nuclear weapons. The executive branch attempts to stop the publishing of the report, but the publishers cite the precedent in New York Times Company v. United States (1971) establishing which of the following legal rules?

C The heavy presumption against prior restraint

Which of the following Supreme Court decisions allows public school students to wear T-shirts protesting a school board decision that eliminates funding for high school arts programs?

C Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

The "wall of separation" doctrine refers to the

C division of church and state

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to

C make most rights contained in the Bill of Rights applicable to the states

Civil rights activists, such as those who campaign for gay and lesbian equal rights and those who advocated for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s, often find the most effective way to secure those rights is

C through litigation in the courts to gain legal protections against discrimination

In which case did the Supreme Court rule that "the doctrine of separate but equal has no place" in the Constitution?

D Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case. The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the Nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much. This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. President John F. Kennedy, Report to the American People on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963 The issues identified in the passage reflect a failure to uphold which of the following constitutional principles?

D Equal protection

Protection of the legal rights of women has been facilitated by the passage of which of the following? I. The Equal Rights Amendment II. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 III. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 IV. The Education Amendments Act of 1972

D II, III, and IV only

The following questions are based on the following excerpt from a major Supreme Court decision. "Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone..." ...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently inequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs...are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." The Supreme Court decision quoted above did which of the following?

D Initially affected only schools where segregation was mandated by law.

"The original understanding of the Second Amendment was neither an individual right to self-defense nor a collective right of the states, but rather a civic right that guaranteed that citizens would be able to keep and bear those arms needed to meet their legal obligation to participate in a well-regulated militia. Nothing better captured this constitutional ideal than the minuteman. Citizens had a legal obligation to outfit themselves with a musket at their own expense and were expected to turn out at a minute's notice to defend their community, state, and eventually their nation. Although each side in the modern debate claims to be faithful to the historical Second Amendment, a restoration of its original meaning, re-creating the world of the minuteman, would be a nightmare that neither side would welcome. It would certainly involve more intrusive gun regulation, not less. . . . Gun control advocates might blanch at the notion that all Americans would be required to receive firearms training and would certainly look askance at the idea of requiring all able-bodied citizens to purchase their own military-style assault weapons." Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America, Oxford University Press, 2006 Which of the following Supreme Court cases is most relevant to the topic of the article?

D McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court established which of the following principles?

D Separation of students by race, even in equally good schools, is unconstitutional.

In Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the

D Sixth Amendment right-to-counsel provision applies to those accused of major crimes under state laws

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court ruling limited state action in segregating public school students based on their race, stating "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The Court pointed to which of the following amendments to the United States Constitution to achieve this ruling?

D The Fourteenth Amendment

The Supreme Court has ruled which of the following concerning the death penalty?

D The death penalty is not necessarily cruel and unusual punishment.

A public school district implemented a policy that allowed students to vote on whether they wanted a student-led prayer to be read at football games. This policy was later found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. Which of the following clauses did the policy most likely violate?

D The establishment clause

Which of the following cases decided whether a state could compel children to attend school beyond eighth grade even if it violated the students' sincerely held religious beliefs?

D Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

The Supreme Court addressed the admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court, "in the context of its individualized inquiry into the possible diversity contributions of all applicants, the Law School's race-conscious admissions program does not unduly harm nonminority applicants." The primary issue of controversy in the Grutter v. Bollinger decision involves

D affirmative action

The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 were all directed toward the goal of

D equality for women

The clear-and-present danger test devised by the Supreme Court was designed to define the conditions under which public authorities could

D limit free speech

In Miranda v. Arizona, the United States Supreme Court declared that

D police must inform criminal suspects of their constitutional rights before questioning suspects after arrest

In Roe v. Wade, the majority of Supreme Court justices determined that

D the United States Constitution implies a right to privacy and thus made abortions legal