Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, and the Supreme Court

1. What are amicus curiae briefs and who submits them? Groups that are interested in the outcome of a case “friends”

2. What are the different types of “opinions” and what do they mean? Written: statement of reason behind decision; Concurring: agree with the outcome, but for a different reason; Dissenting: disagree and why

3. What happened as far as implementation following the Brown vs. Board of Education decision The President and Congress refused to enforce speedy compliance with the ruling

4. What does “stare decisis” mean? Decided on the basis of precedent

5. The most liberal court of the modern era has been the Warren Court

6. Where do most cases heard by the Supreme Court come from? Civil actions and lower federal courts

7. Who represents the US government in civil cases in district courts? U.S. Attorney

8. What percentages of nominees to the Supreme Court fail to be confirmed? 20%

9. During which periods have Presidents faced heavy battles over Senate confirmation of their Supreme Court nominees? From the mid 1920s to the mid 1940s and during the late 1950s

10. First African-American to serve of the Supreme Court: Thurgood Marshall

11. President FDR’s appointees to the Supreme Court liberalized the Court. (Liberalized or conservative focus)

12. How many justices have to agree to hear a case? 413. Who are litigants? The plaintiff and the defendant14. Standing to sue: whether or not the litigants have a

serious interest in a case15. What established lower federal courts of general

jurisdiction? The Judiciary Act of 178916. What is the entry point for most litigation in the federal

courts? Which court? district17. How are most cases (criminal and civil) settled? Plea

bargain18. What is senatorial courtesy? Senate disposes of federal

judicial nominations in their home state19. Whose discretion did the Constitution leave to establish

lower federal courts? Congress20. How do critics of affirmative action feel? Reverse

discrimination21. Where is the great majority of America’s judicial business

transacted? State courts22. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: prohibited

employment discrimination against the disabled

Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, and the Supreme Court

23. What does the “gray liberation” movement refer to? Those fighting for rights of the elderly

24. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke: Supreme Court ruled against some of the basic principles of affirmative action programs (quotas)

25. Tailhook Association Convention: Sexual harrasment26. Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail? Because it fell

3 states short for ratification27. What book in 1963 encouraged women to question

traditional assumptions and to assert their rights? The Feminine Mystique

28. What was the feminist movement like between 1920 until 1960? hibernating

29. What launched the women’s rights movement? Signing of Seneca Falls Declaration

30. Korematsu v. United States: upheld the removal of Japanese-Americans to internment camps

31. How does de jure educational segregation occur? By law32. 24th Amendment: prohibited poll taxes33. How does de facto segregation occur? By the reality of

neighborhood schools 34. What institution was most responsible for putting civil

rights goals on the nation’s policy agenda? The Courts35. What did the Supreme Court rule in Brown v. Board of

Education? Ruled that school segregation was not equal36. Outlawed slavery: 13th Amendment37. Define Civil Rights: policies that extend basic rights to

discriminated groups38. What does “equal protection of the laws” mean? Does not

deny states treating classes of citizens differently if reasonable

39. Dred Scott v. Sanford: ruled that a black man had no rights under a white man’s government

40. When was the 14th Amendment passed? (not the year) following the Civil War

41. How many members must be on a jury according to the Constitution? No set number

42. When must a court provide a lawyer for a defendant? Whenever imprisonment could be imposed

43. What does the 5th Amendment forbid? Forced self-incrimination

44. 4th Amendment: forbids unreasonable searches and seizures

45. What does most of the wording of the Bill of Rights concern? The rights of people accused of crimes

Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, and the Supreme Court

46. NAACP v. Alabama: the state of Alabama was unlawfully restricting the NAACP’s freedom of association

47. Examples of symbolic speech: wearing an arm band, burning a US flag, etc…….

48. Slander: Saying false and malicious statements about someone

49. Libel: Printing false and malicious statements about someone

50. Near v. Minnesota: state governments could not use prior restraint to shut down an outspoken newspaper

51. How do you define what is obscene? Not protected under the Constitution

52. Schenck v. United States: speech can be restricted when it provokes a “clear and present danger”

53. Barron v. Baltimore: ruled that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, not states

54. Lemon v. Kurtzman: aid to church-related schools must be for secular purposes only

55. Where would you find American’s civil liberties? Bill of Rights

56. Free exercise clause: Government will not interfere with the practice of religion (always a but if)

57. Due Process clause: People cannot be denied their “life, liberty, and property” without their due process rights being exercised

58. Establishment clause: The government will not make any national religion or church

59. 14th Amendment: The Supreme Court has relied on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to incorporate select amendments of the Bill of Rights into the states. Originally intended for newly freed slaves only.

60. Explain in complete detail the concept of selective incorporation: A piecemeal process where select amendments from the Bill of Rights have been incorporated into states using the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause as justification.