AP Gov Chapter 4 Vocab – Flashcards
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Actual Malice
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Either knowledge of a defamatory statement's falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth.
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Arraignment
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The first act in a criminal proceeding, in which the defendant is brought before a court to hear the charges against him or her and enter a plea or guilty or not guilty.
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Bill of Attainder
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A government decree that a person is guilty of a crime that carries the death penalty, rendered without the benefit of a trial.
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Civil Liberties
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Those personal freedoms that are protected for all individuals.
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Clear and Present Danger Test
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The test proposed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for determining when government may restrict free speech.
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Commercial Speech
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Advertising statements, which increasingly have been given First Amendment protection.
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Defamation of Character
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Wrongfully hurting a person's good reputation.
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Due Process Clause
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Section of the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits states from depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property "without due process of law," a guarantee against arbitrary or unfair government action.
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Establishment Clause
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The part of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a church officially supported by the national government.
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Ex Post Facto Laws
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A law which makes a particular act illegal, and punishes people who committed that crime before the law was passed, i.e., when the act was legal.
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Exclusionary Rule
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A policy forbidding the admission at trial of illegally seized evidence.
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Fighting Words
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Words that by their very nature inflict injury upon those to whom they are addressed or cause acts of violence by them.
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Free Exercise Clause
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The provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing the free exercise of religion.
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Gag Order
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An order issued by a judge restricting publication of news about a trial or a pretrial hearing to protect the accused's right to a fair trial.
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Hate Speech
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Expression that is offensive or abusive, particularly in terms or race, gender, or sexual orientation. It is currently protected under the 1st Amendment.
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Incorporation Theory
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The view that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.
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Non-Protected Speech
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Libel, obscenity, fighting words, and commercial speech, which are not entitled in all circumstances to constitutional protection.
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Obscenity
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Quality or state of a work that, taken as a while, appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serioius literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
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Political Speech
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An expression that talks about a government action rather than the personal conduct of an individual.
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Prior Restraint
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Restraining an action before the activity has actually occurred. When expression is involved, this mean censorship.
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Privacy Rights
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The qualified legal right of a person to have reasonable privacy in not having his private affairs made known or his likeness exhibited to the public having regard to his habits, mode of living, and occupation.
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Public Figure
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A public official, movie star, or other person known to the public because of his or her position or activities.
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Sedition
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Attempting to overthrow the government by force or to interrupt its activities by violence.
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Symbolic Speech
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Nonverbal expression of beliefs, which is given substantial protection by the courts.
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Writ of Habeas Corpus
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An order that requires jailers to bring a prisoner before a court or judge and explain why the person is being held.
