Chapter 3 words

Ratified in 1868, the amendment altered the nature of the Union by placing significant restraints on state governments

The part of the Bill of Rights containing protections for political and religious expression

Guideline devised by the Supreme Court in Schenck vs. United States to determine when speech could be suppressed under the first amendment

The Court’s current test for First Amendment restrictions that asks whether a speech act attempts to or is likely to incite lawless action

Official censorship before something is said or published or censorship that halts publication already under way is usually judged unconstitutional today under the First Amendment

As applied by the Supreme Court, certain pornographic portrayals of sexual acts not protected by the First Amendment (first appeared in Miller v. California)

Defamation of a person’s character or reputation, not protected by the First Amendment (New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan—makes it difficult for public figures and officials to bring successful libel suits against their critics

A speech act that centers on action or performance to communicate a point rather than on words

Provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing religious freedom

Provision of the First Amendment barring government support of religion

A standard announced in Lemon vs. Kurtzman to determine when a statute violates the establishment clause—The law in question must have a secular purpose and a neutral effect and must avoid an excessive entanglement between church and state

The concept that a defendant’s factual guilt be established in accordance with the laws and the Constitution before criminal penalties can be applied

A concept in criminal procedure that places the burden of proof on the government in establishing guilt

Laws that make an act a crime after it was committed or increase the punishment for a crime already committed—prohibited by the Constitution

A law that punishes an individual and bypasses the procedural safeguards of the legal process—prohibited by the Constitution

Part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures of persons and their property

Official authorization for government action

A standard used in determining when police can conduct arrests and searches

Requirements announced in Miranda vs. Arizona to protect a suspect during a police interrogation

A deal with the prosecutor to obtain a lighter sentence

Provision of the Bill of Rights assuring, among other things, the right to counsel

A criminal proceeding in which the defendant is on trial for his or her life

Less serious criminal offense, usually punishable by not more than one year in jail

A serious criminal offense, usually punishable by more than once year in prison

The part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments” and often at issue in death penalty cases

Prohibited by the Eighth Amendment—at issue in capital cases

Part of the Bill of Rights that cautions that the people possess rights not specified

Supreme Court decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion

A standard that calls for government to remove barriers of discrimination, such as segregation laws or racially exclusive hiring practices that have existed in the past

A standard, beyond equality of opportunity, which requires policies, such as redistribution of income and other resources, that seeks to reduce or eliminate the effects of past discrimination

A standard, beyond equality of condition, which requires policies such as affirmative action or comparable worth, that places some people on an equal footing with others

The first of the Civil War amendments to the Constitution, adopted in 1865, banned slavery throughout the United States

Part of the Fourteenth Amendment that is the source of many civil rights, and declares that no state shall deny to any person “the equal protection of the laws”

A standard announced by the Supreme Court in Plessy vs. Furgeson in 1896 that allowed racially separate facilities on trains (and by implication in public services such as education), as long as the separate facilities were equal (overturned by Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: an organization founded to improve the social, economic, and political condition of African Americans

Landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned the separate-but-equal standard of Plessy vs. Ferguson and began an end to racial segregation in public schools

Comprehensive legislation to end racial segregation in access to public accommodations and in employment in the public and private sectors

Programs or facilities that are racially segregated by private choice or private discrimination, not because of law or public policy

Programs or facilities that are racially segregated because of law or public policy

Positive steps taken by public or private institutions to overcome the remaining effects of racial or sexual bias (Affirmative Action programs attempt to achieve equality of result)

Major legislation designed to overcome racial barriers to voting, primarily in the southern states, which was extended in 1982 for 25 years

An employment policy, designed to overcome the economic inequities of sexual discrimination, mandating that persons holding jobs of equal responsibility and skill be paid the same