question

The right to counsel is guaranteed by the ________ Amendment

answer

Sixth

question

The individual freedoms in the Bill of Rights were extended by the Fourteenth Amendment to include protection from deprivation of due process rights by

answer

actions of state and local governments

question

The term civil liberties refers to specific individual rights that

answer

are constitutionally protected from infringement by government

question

The individual right that is widely regarded as the most basic of individual rights in a democracy is

answer

freedom of expression

question

The Supreme Court's position on prior restraint of the press is that

answer

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

question

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

answer

selective incorporation

question

Which of the following is correct with regard to obscenity and the law?

answer

Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment

question

According to the Supreme Court, state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates

answer

the establishment clause

question

The exclusionary rule states that

answer

evidence obtained illegally is inadmissible in court

question

Justice Holmes's "clear and present danger" test holds that government can

answer

restrict speech that threatens national security

question

Which of the following is true of the appeal process?

answer

The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal

question

The Supreme Court has reasoned that a right of privacy is provided by

answer

the implication of said right by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights

question

Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the

answer

Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the

question

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from

answer

unreasonable searches

question

The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition are found in

answer

the First Amendment

question

"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

answer

Miranda warning

question

In theJohnsonflag-burning case, the Supreme Court ruled that

answer

flag burning, although offensive, cannot be prohibited

question

According to the Supreme Court, what is the status of prayer in the public schools?

answer

State-supported prayers are not allowed in public schools

question

Which constitutional amendment protects the individual against self-incrimination?

answer

Fifth

question

The conviction of members of the U.S. Communist Party in the early 1950s was initially upheld as a lawful restriction of the right

answer

of free speech

question

United States v Jones (2012)

answer

The Fourth Amendment's protection of "persons, houses, papers, and effects" reasonably extends to private property such as an automobile.

question

civil liberties

answer

Specific individual rights, such as the right to a fair trial, that are constitutionally protected against infringement by government.

question

civil rights

answer

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.

question

Bill of Rights

answer

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.

question

Due Process Clause

answer

Part of the Fourteenth Amendment. "No State shall...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

question

Did the Supreme Court initially enforce the due process clause?

answer

No, the Court largely ignored it until Gitlow v New York in 1925.

question

Gitlow v New York

answer

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.

question

Fiske v. Kansas

answer

The Court invalidated state law restricting expression in the area of free speech.

question

Near v. Minnesota

answer

The Court invalidated state law restricting expression in the area of free press.

question

Hamilton v. Regents, University of California

answer

The Court invalidated state law restricting expression of religion.

question

DeJonge v. Oregon

answer

The Court invalidated state law restricting the right to assemble and petition.

question

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

answer

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.

question

Doctrine of selective incorporation

answer

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.

question

Sedition Act of 1798

answer

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.

question

Schenk v. United States (1919)

answer

the Court upheld the 1917 Espionage Act. It established the clear-and-present-danger test for determining when government can legally restrict speech.

question

Clear-and-present-danger test

answer

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.

question

Brandenberg v. Ohio (1969)

answer

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'.

question

imminent lawless action

answer

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.

question

hate speech vs hate crime

answer

hate speech is protected free speech; actual crime is not.

question

Snyder v. Phelps

answer

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.

question

McCullen V. Coakley (2014)

answer

the Court invalidated a Massachusetts law that prohibited anti-abortion advocates from protesting within 35 feet of an abortion clinic.

question

Johnson case, 1989

answer

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.

question

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

answer

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.

question

prior restraint

answer

government prohibition of speech or publication before it occurs

question

libel vs slanderq

answer

Libel is published; slander is spoken. The courts protect individual much more than public figures.

question

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

answer

the libel of a public official requires proof of actual malice

question

actual malice

answer

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.

question

establishment clause

answer

the government may not favor one religion over another or support religion against no religion.

question

free exercise clause

answer

Americans are free to hold any religious belief of their choosing.

question

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

answer

the Supreme Court ruled that the establishment clause prohibits the reciting of prayers in public schools.

question

wall of separation doctrine

answer

a strict separation of church and state

question

accommodation doctrine

answer

allows government to aid religious activity if no preference is shown toward a particular religion and if the assistance is of a nonreligious nature.

question

Lemon test

answer

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."

question

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971

answer

established the Lemon test for government involvement in religion.

question

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)

answer

departure from the wall of separation docrine: allowed school vouchers in Cleveland.

question

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

answer

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.

question

Ninth Amendment

answer

"The enumeration of the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

question

Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965

answer

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.

question

Roe v. Wade (1973)

answer

abortion: right to privacy.

question

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)

answer

upheld Missouri law prohibiting abortions from being performed in the state's publicly funded medical facilities.

question

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

answer

upheld PA law requiring minors to have parental or judicial consent before obtaining an abortion.

question

Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

answer

Supreme Court for the first time upheld a ban on a type of abortion: Partial-birth abortion.

question

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

answer

right of privacy DID NOT EXTEND to consensual sexual relations among adults of the same sex.

question

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

answer

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.

question

procedural due process

answer

procedures that authorities must follow before a person can lawfully be punished for an offense.

question

Fourth Amendment

answer

protection from unreasonable search and seizure; police must have probable cause in order to arrest.

question

Fifth Amendment

answer

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.

question

due process

answer

You cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without proper legal proceedings

question

Double jeopardy

answer

You cannot be tried twice for the same crime if the first trial results in a verdict of innocence

question

Sixth amendment

answer

right to counsel/right to an attorney; right to prompt and reasonable proceedings

question

Prompt and reasonable proceedings

answer

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.

question

Eighth amendment

answer

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.

question

Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie (2014)

answer

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.

question

roadblocks to check BAC vs roadblocks searching for drugs

answer

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.

question

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

answer

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)

question

Dickerson v. United States (2000)

answer

reaffirmed the Miranda decision, saying it is an established "constitutional rule" that Congress could not abolish by ordinary legislation.

question

Missouri v. Siebert (2004)

answer

further strengthened Miranda precedent.

question

grand jury indictment

answer

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.

question

Johnson v. Zerbst (1938)

answer

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.

question

Gideon v. Wainright (1963)

answer

extended the right to a government-provided attorney to defendants in state courts.

question

Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968)

answer

Court ruling against deliberately stacked juries in the prosecution favor in death penalty cases.

question

Weeks v. United States (1914)

answer

The Exclusionary Rule: bars the use in some circumstances of evidence that was obtained in violation of a defendant's rights.

question

United States v. Leon (1984)

answer

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.

question

Exclusionary Rule

answer

bars the use in some circumstances of evidence that was obtained in violation of a defendant's rights.

question

Good Faith exception to exclusionary rule

answer

Evidence discovered under a faulty warrant can be admitted if the police believed they were following proper procedures.

question

inevitable discovery exception to exclusionary rule

answer

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.

question

plain view exception to exclusionary rule

answer

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.

question

Nix v. Williams (1984)

answer

inevitable discovery exception

question

Whren v. United States (1996)

answer

plain view exception

question

Hall v. Florida (2014)

answer

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.

question

appeals process

answer

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.

question

Felker v. Turpin (1996)

answer

bars in most instances a second federal appeal by a state prison inmate, to prevent frivolous and multiple federal court appeals.

question

Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)

answer

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.

question

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006)

answer

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.

question

USA Patriot Act

answer

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...

question

FISA: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978

answer

Expressly prohibited wiretaps of international phone calls and email messages originating in the U.S.; the Patriot Act went above this act.

question

The individual freedoms in the Bill of Rights were extended by the Fourteenth Amendment to include protection from deprivation of due process rights by

answer

actions of state and local governments.

question

The term "civil liberties" refers to specific individual rights that

answer

are constitutionally protected from infringement by government

question

The individual right that is widely regarded as the most basic of individual rights is

answer

freedom of expression.

question

Justice Holmes's "clear and present danger" test holds that government can

answer

restrict speech that threatens national security.

question

Like all other rights, the right of free expression is

answer

not absolute.

question

The conviction of members of the U.S. Communist Party in the early 1950s was initially upheld as a lawful restriction of the right

answer

of free speech.

question

Justice Stone argued in 1938 that

answer

First Amendment rights are the basis of most other rights.

question

The Supreme Court's position on prior restraint of the press is that

answer

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.

question

Government can lawfully prevent a political rally from taking place

answer

when it can demonstrate that harmful acts will necessarily result from the rally

question

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

answer

selective incorporation.

question

Spoken words that are known to be false and harmful to a person's reputation are an example of

answer

slander

question

Which of the following is correct with regard to obscenity and the law?

answer

Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.

question

The establishment clause prohibits government from

answer

favoring one religion over another or supporting religion over no religion.

question

The Supreme Court upheld the use of tax-supported vouchers to attend private or parochial school in

answer

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.

question

According to the Supreme Court, prayer in public schools violates

answer

the establishment clause.

question

In 2007 the Supreme Court reversed its stance on partial-birth abortion, largely due to the replacement of Sandra Day O'Connor with

answer

Samuel Alito.

question

The exclusionary rule states that

answer

evidence obtained illegally is inadmissible in court.

question

In Mapp v. Ohio, the selective incorporation process was extended to include

answer

criminal proceedings in the states.

question

In the case of McNabb v. United States, Justice Felix Frankfurter defined the "history of liberty" primarily in terms of whether

answer

governments had observed procedural guarantees.

question

Which of the following is true of the appeal process?

answer

The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal.

question

The Supreme Court has reasoned that a right of privacy is provided by

answer

the implication of said right by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights..

question

The right to privacy was instrumental in which decision?

answer

Roe v. Wade

question

In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the justices

answer

reaffirmed the essential aspects of Roe v. Wade.

question

What is the greatest restriction on appeals in the United States?

answer

a federal law that bars in most instances a second federal appeal by a state prison inmate

question

. In Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), the Supreme Court justices determined that

answer

the right to privacy did not extend to consensual sexual relations among adults of the same sex.

question

The inevitable discovery exception

answer

allows the use of evidence that would have been discovered regardless by other means or through other forms of evidence.

question

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from

answer

unreasonable searches.

question

Voluntary school prayer in the public schools was ruled unconstitutional in

answer

Engel v. Vitale (1962).

question

Which of the following, relative to the others, is typically more protective of individual rights?

answer

the judiciary

question

The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition are found in

answer

first amendment

question

Which of the following is true about the Sedition Act of 1798?

answer

The Act prohibited malicious newspaper stories about the president.

question

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court ruled that

answer

speech could be restricted when the nation's security is at stake.

question

In the Johnson flag-burning case, the Supreme Court ruled that

answer

flag burning, although offensive, cannot be prohibited.

question

The Miranda warning was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2000 in

answer

Dickerson v. United States.

question

According to the Supreme Court, prior restraint on the press is only acceptable if

answer

the government can clearly justify the restriction.

question

"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

answer

the Miranda warning.

question

According to the Supreme Court, which is true regarding freedom of assembly?

answer

Public officials can regulate the time, place, and conditions of public assembly, provided the regulations are reasonable

question

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?

answer

Russia

question

What Illinois policy did the Supreme Court invalidate with its decision in Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968)?

answer

allowing the prosecution an unlimited number of challenges in capital cases

question

Which constitutional amendment protects the individual against self-incrimination?

answer

5th

question

Gideon v. Wainwright required the states to

answer

furnish attorneys for poor defendants in felony cases.

question

Since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has addressed the exclusionary rule by

answer

None of these answers is correct.

question

The right to counsel is guaranteed by the ________ Amendment.

answer

6th

question

The Lemon test is designed to

answer

ensure the secular nature of a government action.

question

Which of the following amendments contains a due process clause?

answer

14th

question

The Supreme Court

answer

has generally protected symbolic speech, though less substantially than it has protected verbal speech.

question

How did the Supreme Court's position on the rights of the accused in state courts change in the 1960s?

answer

The Supreme Court began to protect the rights of the accused from action by the states.

question

Libel applies to defamation of an individual's reputation through the

answer

written word.

question

In the Constitution, procedural due process is protected by the

answer

4-6th, 14th

question

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

answer

clear and present danger

question

When can police legally begin their interrogation of a suspect?

answer

after the suspect has been warned that his or her words can be used as evidence

question

Gideon v. Wainwright is to the Sixth Amendment as Mapp v. Ohio is to the

answer

4th

question

________ has executed more convicted criminals in the past quarter century than any other state.

answer

texas

question

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

answer

do have the right to a judicial hearing.

question

The USA Patriot Act

answer

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.

question

Explain the concept of prior restraint of the press. Include one example of how the Supreme Court has ruled on this issue

answer

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).

question

Discuss the differences between the First Amendment's establishment and free exercise clauses.

answer

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.

question

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.

answer

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.

question

How has the Supreme Court interpreted the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment in recent years? Explain.

answer

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.

question

What is meant by selective incorporation? Discuss the history of this process and its importance to the protection of individual rights.

answer

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.

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