Judicial Branch
Number of Supreme Court Justices and WHO is the Chief Justice?
9; John Roberts Jr.
The publication of false or malicious statements that damage someone's reputation.
Libel
The legal right to vote in the United States, gradually extended to virtually all citizens over the age of 18.
Suffrage
Held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and thus they could not enjoy the rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Opponents of the U.S. Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption
Anti-Federalists
Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of influencing a court's decision by raising additional points of view.
Amicus Curiae Briefs
Intended to prohibit the federal government from declaring and financially supporting a national religion
Establishment Clause
This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting that required a monetary fee in order to cast a vote.
Poll Tax
The Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools, due to violation of the First Amendment.
Engel v. Vitale
A First Amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion.
Free Exercise Clause
The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. These are the courts that determine the facts about a case.
Original jurisdiction
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.
Incorporation Doctrine
A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Court held, 5–4, that burning the American flag was protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as doing so counts as symbolic speech and political speech.
Texas v. Johnson
A constitutional amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes. It includes the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a speedy and public trial.
Sixth Amendment
**DOUBLE POINTS**
An unwritten tradition whereby nominations for state-level federal judicial posts are usually not confirmed if they are opposed by a senator of the president's party from the state in which the nominee will serve.
Senatorial Courtesy
Evidence cannot be introduced into a trial if it was not constitutionally obtained. This prohibits the use of evidence obtained through unreasonable search and seizure.
Exclusionary Rule
** DOUBLE POINTS **
A set of procedures designed to; eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future.
Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court reversed the Seventh Circuit, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states.
McDonald v. Chicago
A legal process whereby a state surrenders a person charged with a crime to the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.
Extradition
An approach to decision making in which judges sometimes make bold policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground.
Judicial Activism
Part of the 14th Amendment guaranteeing that persons cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property by the United States or state governments without fair treatment of the law.
Due Process Clause
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Court held that speech made in a public place on a matter of public concern cannot be the basis of liability for a tort of emotional distress, even if the speech is viewed as offensive or outrageous.
Snyder v. Phelps
Party leaders who work with the majority leader and minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party.
Whips
Lawsuits in which a small number of people sue on behalf of all people in similar circumstances.
Class Action Lawsuit
Government actions preventing material from being published.
Prior Restraint
A pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party.
Brown Berets
The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority. Articulating for the first time the “clear and present danger test,” where the First Amendment does not protect speech that approaches creating a clear and present danger of a significant evil that Congress has power to prevent.
Schenck v. United States
A 1964 Supreme Court decision establishing that, to win damage suits for libel, public figures must prove that the defamatory statements were made with "actual malice" and reckless disregard for the truth.
New York Times v. Sullivan