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| The legal constitutional protections against govt. Alth |
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| The first ten amendments to the US Consitution, which define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech and press and guarantee defendants's rights. |
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| The constitutional amendment that establishes the four great liberties: freedom of the press, of speech , of religion, and of assembly. |
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| This 1833 Supreme Court decision holding that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national govt., not the sts. or cities. |
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| The 1925 Supreme Court decision holding that freedomes of press and speech are "fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment from impairment by the sts." as well as by the fed. govt. |
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| The constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that sts., " No St. shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunites of citizens of the US ; nor shall any st. deprive any person of life, liberty or property, w/o due process of law; nor deny to any person w/in its jurisdictiion the equal protection of the laws." |
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| The legal concept under which the Supreme Court has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the sts. through the fourteenth amendment. |
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| Part of the first amendment stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." |
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| a first amendment provision that prohibits govt. from interfering w/ the practice of religion. |
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| The 1971 Supreem Court decision that established that aid to church related schools (1) must have a secular legislative purpose (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion and (3) not foster excessive government entanglement w/ religion. |
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| The 2002 Supreme Court decision that upheld a st. providing families w/ vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religous schools. |
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| The 1962 Supreme Court decision holding that state officials violated the first amendment when they wrote a pryer to be recited by New York's school childern. |
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| School District of Abington Township, PA v. Schempp |
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| A 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that a PA. law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the first amendment. |
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| A govt. preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usu. unconstituional in the US, according to the first amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota. |
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| The 1931 Supreme Court decision holding that the first amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint. |
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| The 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young ment to resist the draft during WWI. Justice Holmes declared that govt. can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils. |
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| Zurcher v. Stanford Daily |
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| A 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else w/o necessarily violating the fisrt amendment rights to freedom of the press. |
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| A 1957 Supreme Court decision ruling that "obscenity is not w/in the area of constitutionally protected speech or press." |
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| A 1973 Supreme Court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to "prurient interest" and being "patently offensive" and lacking in value. |
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| The publication of false or malicious statments that damage someone's reuptation. |
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| Decided in 1964, this case established the guidelines for determining whether public officials and public figures could win damage suits for libel. To do so , individuals must prove that the defamatory statments were made w/ "actual malice" and reckless disregard for the truth. |
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| A 1989 case in which the Supreme Court struck down a law banning the burning of the Am. flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the first amendment. |
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| Nonverbla communication, such as buring a flag or wearing an armband. |
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| Communication in the form of advertising. It can be restricted more than many other types of speech but has been receiving increased protection from the Supreme Court. |
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| Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo |
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| A 1974 case in which the Supreme Court held that a st. could not force a newspapers to print replies from candidates it had critcized, illustrating the limited power of govt. to restrict the print media. |
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| Red Lion Broadcasing Company v. Fed. Communications Commission |
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| A 1969 case in which the Supreme Court uspheld restrictions on radio and tv broadcasting. These restrictions on the broadcast media are much tighter than those on the print media because there are only a limited number of broadcasting frequencies available. |
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| The Supreme Court protected the right to assemble peaceably in this 1958 case when it decided the NAACP did not hove to reveal its membership list and thus subject its members to harassment. |
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| This situation occurring when the police have reason to believe that a person should be arrested. In making the arrest, police are allowed legally to search for and seize incriminating evidence. |
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| unreasonable searches and seizures |
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| Obtaining evidene in a haphazard or random manner, a practice prohibited by the fourth amendment. |
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| a written authorization from the court specifying the area to be searched and what the police are searching for. |
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| the rule that evidence, no matter how incriminationg cannot be introduced into a trial if it was not constitutionally obtained. The rule prohibits use of evidence obtained through unreasonable searches and seizures. |
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| The 1961 Supreme Court decision ruling that the fourth amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as to the federal govt. |
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| The constitutional amendment designed to protect the rights of persons accused of crimes, including protection aginst double jeopardy, self-incrimination and punishment w/o due process of law. |
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| The situation occurring when an individual accused of a crime is compelled to be a witness against himself or herself in court. The fifth amendment forbids this. |
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| The 1966 Supreme Court decision that sets guidelines for police questioing of accused persons to protect them against self-incirmination an to protect their right to counsel. |
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| The constituional amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes. It includs the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a speedy and public trial. |
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| The 1963 Supreme Court decison holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer. |
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| A bargain struck b/t the defendant's lawyer and the prosceutor to the effect thta the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser crime (or fewer crimes ) in exchange for the sts. promise not to prosecute the defendant for more serious (or additional) crime. |
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| The constitutional amendment that forbids cruel and unususual punishment. Through the fourteenth amendment, this bill of rights provision applies to the sts. |
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| cruel and unusual punishment |
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| Court sentences prohibited by the 8th amendment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that mandatory dath sentecnes for certain offenses are unconstitutional, it has not held that the death penalty itself constitues cruel and unusual punishment. |
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| The 1976 Supreme Court decison that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, staing that "it is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes." The court did not therefore believe that the death sentece constitues cruel and unusual punishment. |
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| The 1987 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the 14th amendment because minority defendants were more likely to recieve the death penalty than were White defendants. |
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| The right to a private personal life free from the intrusion of govt. |
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| The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a st. ban on all abortions was unconstituional. The decison forbade st. control over abortions during the 1st trimester of pregnancy, permitted sts. to limit abortions to protect the mothers's health in the 2nd trimester, and permitted sts. to protect the fetus during the 3rd trimester. |
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| Planned Parenthood v. Casey |
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| A 1992 case in which the Supreme Court loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of "strict scrutiny" of any restraint on a "fundamental right" to one of "undue burden" that permits considerably more regulation. |
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