POL 101: Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights: SmartBook

What was challenged by Lawrence v. Texas (2003)?

Texas's sodomy laws.

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 if a punishment violates "fundamental standards of good conscience and fairness" * Determining if a punishment is "unnecessarily cruel" * Determining whether a punishment is "disprportionate to the offence"

Match the clause with its description.

* Establishment Clause: requires government neutrality toward religious institutions. * Free-exercise Clause: prohibts the government from interfering with individuals' practice of their religion.

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.

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: The right to appeal after conviction is guaranteed in the Constitution.

False

Which of these groups is typically more protective of individual rights?

Judges

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 exclusionary rule is based on the Supreme Court decision in

Weeks v. United States (1914).

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 ruling by a judge.

The ______ clause of the First Amendment bans the state from helping religious institutions, whereas the ______ clause bans the state from restricting the free practice of religion by individuals.

establishment; free-exercise

In the case of New York Times Co. v. United States

it was ruled that prior restraint is unconstitutional without a compelling argument for the restriction.

The Sedition Act of 1798

made it a crime to publish stories that were harshly critical of the president.

Law enforcement officials sometimes controversially rely on the practice of _________ ___________, the assuption that certain groups of people are more likely to commit particular crimes.

racial profiling

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects

the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

The USA Patriot Act was passed

to combat terrorism.

Match the constitutional amendment to the right(s) it protects.

* First Amendment: right to speech, press, assembly and religion. * Second Amendment: Right to bear arms. * Fourth Amendment: protection against unreasonable search and seizure. * Fifth Amendment: protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy. * Sixth Amendment: right to a jury trial, an attorney, and to confront witnesses. * Eighth Amendment: protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court has recently employed the Eighth Amendment to ban which of the following?

* Life sentences wihtout parole for juveniles. * The death penalty for juveniles. * The death penalty for the mentally ill.

Which of the following statements are true concerning the right of assembly?

* Public officials can regulate the time and place of assemblies. * Individuals cannot hold an assembly at a busy intersection during rush hour. * Regulations of public assembles must be applied fairly to all groups.

Which of the following amendments contribute to ensuring criminal due process?

* The Sixth Amendment * The Fourth Amendement * The Eighth Amendment * The Fifth Amendment

Since the 1950s, what has been the government's approach to free speech?

* The Supreme Court has ruled that spoken words do not pose a true threat to national security, so Americans can speak their minds politically. * Not a single individual has been convicted solely for criticizing the government's war policies. * The Supreme Court has ruled national security must truly be at risk before the government can limit speech.

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

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.

Why was the National Security Agency's wiretapping of phone calls and e-mail messages originating in the United States, first revealed by The New York Times in 2005, controversial?

* The wiretapping had been authorized by President George W. Bush without approval from the courts. * The NSA had collected data on nearly every call made by Americans.

Freedom of expression

* does not cover some forms of commercial speech, such as advertising. * allows individual Americans to communicate thoughts of their choosing. * does not cover obscene forms of sexual expression.

Free speech is usually protected in the United States unless it

* involves faluse commerical advertising claims. * leads to imminent and lawless action. * presents a clear and present danger to others.

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

What is the question at the heart of the debate over the Second Amendment?

Does the amendment give individuals the right to possess weapons?

Which of the following is likely to convince a judge that police should be issued a search warrant?

Establishing probable cause for believing a crime has been committed.

Which amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from testifying against themselves in a court of law?

Fifth

Which amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures?

Fourth

The Supreme Court determined that privacy rights extend to consensual activity between same-sex partners in

Lawrence v. Texas

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

The Supreme Court decision that determined that the right to privacy extended to include abortion is

Roe v. Wade

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

Which of the following acts of legislation gave government increased authority to examine medical, financial, and student records and increased surveillance of communications without a warrant or court order?

The USA Patriot Act

In Brandenburg v. Ohio the Supreme Court developed which of the following tests that expanded protections for Americans to voice political opinions?

The imminent lawless action test.

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.

Which of the following is a right of the accused that is protected by the Fifth Amendment?

To have a grand jury weight the prosecution's evidence.

True or false: Although it is a core principle for most Americans, the right to privacy is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.

True

The law passed by Congress, soon after the 9/11 attacks, that allows the FBI and other intelligence agencies to access personal information and records without consent from targeted individuals is known as the

USA Patriot Act

In the case of Korematsu v. United States, the courts

allowed government polices during wartime that would not be allowed in times of peace.

The exclusionary rule restricts the ability of

courts to admit illegally obtained evidence during a trial.

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 barrier to restrict speech established in Brandenburg v. Ohio is best described as

imposing.

The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners should generally appeal their cases first

in state courts.

The attempt to block the publication of material considered to be harmful is known as ______ restraint.

prior

According to the establishment clause, the government is required to

remain neutral toward all religions.

In the 1963 Gideon case, the Supreme Court established that

the government must provide lawyers to individuals who cannot afford their own attorney.

Griswold v. Connecticut was a case dealing with

the right to privacy.

The Bill of Rights protects some civil liberties, including freedom

* of the press. * of speech. * of assembly.

What are the religious clauses in the First Amendment?

* the free-exercise clause * the establishment clause

England's ______ gave members of Protestant sects the right to worship freely and publicly. The first Amendment reflects this tradition.

Act of Toleration

In Hamden v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of secret military tribunals to try detainees accused of terrorism was ______, as detainees were entitled to a trial affording all the guarantees contained in the Constitution.

unconstitutional