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AP American Government & Politics
Mrs. Ungeheier
STUDY GUIDE – Civil Liberties & Civil Rights
Reading
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Edwards:
Woll Readings:
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Handouts:
Chpt. 4 & 5 (pp. 104-189)
Gideon v.Wainwright
Brown v. Board I, II
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Plessy v. Ferguson
Engel v. Vitale
Roe v. Wade
Griswold v. Connecticut
University of CA v. Bakke
District of Columbia et. Al v. Heller
Reno v. ACLU (1997)
Key Terms
Bill of Rights
Symbolic Speech
Civil Liberties
Unreasonable searches and seizures
Commercial Speech
Cruel and unusual punishment
Due Process Clause (Procedural/Substantive)
Eighth Amendment
Affirmative Action
Equal Access Act
Equal Opportunity Rule
Civil Rights
Establishment Clause
Exclusionary Rule
Fifth Amendment
First Amendment
Fourth Amendment
Free Exercise Clause
Incorporation Document
Lemon Test
Libel
Clear & Present Danger Test
Double Jeopardy
Equal Protection Clause
Plea bargaining
Prior Restraint
Probable cause
Right to privacy
Search warrant
Second Amendment
Self-incrimination:
Sixth Amendment
Slander
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Equal Protection of the Laws
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Fifteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment
Good Faith Exception
Miranda Warnings
Nineteenth Amendment
Obscenity
Poll Taxes
Right to privacy
Suffrage
Thirteenth Amendment
Twenty-fourth Amendment
Voting Rights Act of 1965
White Primary
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The following is a partial listing of key Supreme Court cases which have influenced and continue
to influence civil rights and civil liberties in America. (* KNOW THESE CASES!)
First Amendment
Bethel v. Frasier (1986)
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
Church of the Lukumi Babalu v. Hialeah (1983)
Cohen v. California (1971)
*Engel v. Vitale (1962)
*Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
*Miller v. California (1973)
*New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
*Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
*Near v.Minnesota (1931)
*Roth v. United States (1957)
*Miami Herald Pub. Co. v. Turnille (1974)
*NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
New York Times v. U.S. (1971)
Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)
*Schenck v. United States (1919)
Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
*Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
*United States v. Nixon (1974)
Wallace v. Jeffre (1985)
*Schl Dist. of Abington Twshp PA v.
Schempp (1963)
*Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978)
*Red Lion Broadicasting Co. v. FCC (1969)
Fourth Amendment
California v. Greenwood (1988)
Katz v. U.S. (1967)
*Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)
Nix v. Williams (1984)
Oliver v. U.S. (1984)
Payton b. New York (1980)
*Terry v Ohio (1968)
U.S. v. Watson (1976)
*Wong Sung v. U.S. (1963)
Fifth Amendment
Brewer v. Williams (1977)
Brown v. Mississippi (1936)
*Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Moran v. Burbine (1986)
Illinois v. Perkins (1990)
Spano v. New York (1959)
Sixth Amendment
Betts v. Brady (1942)
*Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
Strickland v. Washington (1984)
Miscellaneous Cases
*Adavand constructors v. Pena (1995)
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
*Brown v. Board (1954, 1955)
Griswold v. Connecticut (1992)
Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
*Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
*Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
*Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
*Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
*Regents v. Bakke (1976)
*Roe v. Wade (1973)
*Webster v. Reproduction Health Ser.(1989)
*Gitlow v. New York (1925)
*McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
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Definitions:
Bill of Rights: the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Civil Liberties – The legal constitutional protections against government. Although our civil liberties are
formally set down in the Bill of Rights, the courts, police, and legislative define their meaning.
Commercial Speech: communication in the form of advertising.
Cruel and unusual punishment: Eighth Amendment prohibits such punishment.
Due Process Clause (Procedural/Substantive) - Constitutional provisions of the 5th and 14th
amendments requiring fairness in all the government does. Further, the 14th Amendment’s provision
makes the Bill of Rights applicable to the states on a selective basis.
Eighth Amendment – Constitutional provision preventing excessive bail or cruel/unusual punishment.
Equal Access Act - Passed by Congress in 1984, which bars public schools from discriminating
against groups of students on the basis of “religious, political, philosophical or other content of
the speech at such meetings.”
Equal Opportunity Rule – A right supposedly guaranteed by both federal and many state laws
against any discrimination in employment, education, housing or credit rights due to a person's
race, color, sex (or sometimes sexual orientation), religion, national origin, age or handicap.
Establishment Clause – Clause of the First Amendment’s religion protection stating that the government
may not establish or endorse a religion.
Exclusionary Rule – Judicial concept which provides meaning to the fourth amendment. The concept
states that any illegally seized evidence shall not be used in court.
Fifth Amendment – Constitutional provision protecting a variety or rights including: 1) grand jury
indictment for capital/infamous crime; 2) double jeopardy; 3) self-incrimination; 4) due process; 5)
eminent domain.
First Amendment - Constitutional amendment protecting the rights of free speech, press, religion,
assembly, and petition.
Fourth Amendment - Constitutional provision which prevents unreasonable search/seizure.
Fourteenth Amendment – Constitutional provision which states that all of those born or naturalized in
the U.S. are citizens. It further applies the Bill of Rights to the states through the due process clause of the
amendment.
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Free Exercise Clause – Clause of the First Amendment prohibiting the abridgment of the citizens’
freedom to worship, or not to worship, as they please.
Incorporation Document – (Selective Incorporation) The legal concept under which the Supreme Court
has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the states through the 14th
Amendment.
Lemon Test – Legal standard which articulates whether an establishment clause violation has occurred.
This includes: 1)the law must have a secular legislative purpose; 2) the law cannot promote or discourage
religion; 3) the law may not involve excessive government entanglement.
Libel – The publication of false or malicious statements that damage someone’s reputation.
Plea bargaining: an actual bargain struck between the defendant’s lawyer and the
prosecutor to the effect that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser crime (or fewer
crimes) in exchange for the state’s promise not to prosecute the defendant for a more
serious (or additional) crime.
Prior Restraint - a governmental action that prevents material from being published (censorship),
has been consistently struck down by the Supreme Court in 1931.
Probable cause: police must have a good reason to arrest someone.
Right to privacy: a contrived right from unstated liberties in the Bill of Rights.
Search warrant: written authorization from a court specifying the area to be searched
and what the police are searching for.
Second Amendment – Constitutional provision which provides for the right to keep and bear arms.
Self-incrimination: testifying against oneself.
Sixth Amendment – Constitutional provision protecting a variety of rights including: 1) speedy/public
trial; 2) impartial jury in criminal cases; 3) informed of charges against; 4) confrontation clause; 5)
attorney.
Slander – A false or malicious statement spoken that injures the reputation of another person.
Symbolic Speech – An action that does not consist of speaking or writing but that expresses an opinion
(flag burning).
Unreasonable searches and seizures: obtaining evidence without a good reason.
Affirmative Action - A policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for
members of some previously disadvantaged group.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: strengthened protections of individuals
with disabilities by requiring employers and public facilities to make “reasonable
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accommodations” and prohibiting employment discrimination against people with
disabilities.
Civil Disobedience – A form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law
believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.
Civil Rights - Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by
government officials or individuals. (Any of the civil liberties guaranteed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments to the Constitution and by the Civil Rights Acts)
Civil Rights Act of 1964: forbids discrimination in public accommodations and
facilities.
Clear & Present Danger Test – Concept articulated in Schenck in which free speech may only be limited
if words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger of a
substantive evil (Holmes).
Double Jeopardy – Protection under the 5th Amendment from prosecution of a person for an offense
for which he or she has already been prosecuted.
Equal Protection Clause – Section of the 14th Amendment guaranteeing that all citizens receive “equal
protection of the laws.” From a practical standpoint this clause has been used to bar discrimination against
blacks and women.
Equal Protection of the Laws: provided by the Fourteenth Amendment mandating that
all people be protected by the law.
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – A constitutional amendment originally introduced in 1923 and
passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the state legislatures for ratification, stating that equality of rights
under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The
amendment failed to acquire the necessary3/4 of the state legislatures.
Fifteenth Amendment: provides the right to vote for Blacks.
Fruit of the Poison Tree Doctrine- Exclusionary Rule concept that states that not only direct evident, but
any evidence flowing from an unreasonable search shall not be used in court.
Good Faith Exception – A fourth amendment exception which states that if police search in good faith,
using an invalid warrant, properly obtained, evidence seized will be permitted as evidence in court.
Miranda Warnings – Series of rules taken from Miranda v. Arizona (1966) designed to protect the selfincrimination rights of those in legal custody. These include: 1) the right to remain silent & right to an
attorney. Miranda only applies during custodial interrogation.
Nineteenth Amendment – Constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to
vote.
Obscenity – A form of unprotected speech in which the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, the dominant theme of the material appeals to prurient interest.
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Poll Taxes: taxes levied on the right to vote designed to hurt poor Blacks.
Suffrage: the legal right to vote.
Thirteenth Amendment: abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.
Twenty-fourth Amendment: prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: a policy designed to reduce the barriers to voting for those
suffering discrimination.
White Primary: pra
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