The Constitution
In Federalist #10, James Madison argues that this type of government is the best way to control factions and prevent tyranny.
What is a large republic?
This is the clause in the constitution that allows federal laws to take precedence over state laws.
What is the supremacy clause?
This is the landmark case that decreed that schools must be desegregated.
What is Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?
These are the two clauses of the 1st Amendment that protect freedom of religion.
What are the establishment clause and the free exercise clause?
The case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) had implications for people's civil liberties that are protected by this amendment.
What is the 5th Amendment (protection against self-incrimination)?
This plan, proposed by James Madison, favored large states by allocating representation based on population.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This type of federal grant is given for a specific, narrowly defined purpose, often with strict guidelines on how states must use the funds.
What is a categorical grant?
This is the key distinction between civil rights and civil liberties, according to recitation and lecture.
What is "rights require obligations by the government and liberties establish boundaries on the government"? (Variations accepted)
This is the part of the U.S. Constitution that was the foundation/framework for incorporation.
What is the 14th Amendment (specifically the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses)?
The case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld this doctrine which was the foundation of race-based segregation.
What is "separate but equal"?
Federalist #51 emphasizes the need for these two systems to prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful.
What are 1) separation of powers and 2) checks and balances?
The 10th Amendment is an important concept for federalism in the United States because it does this.
What is reserves powers that are not delegated to the federal government to the states and the people?
This is how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. describes the difference between "just" and "unjust" laws in Letter from Birmingham Jail.
What is unjust laws are out of harmony with the moral code versus just laws are part of a man-made code that square with the moral law/law of god?
This is the definition of incorporation according to lecture and recitation.
What is the process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states?
This landmark 1962 Supreme Court case ruled that school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
What is Engel v. Vitale?
These were the three major cleavages the architects of the Constitution were dealing with at the Constitutional Convention.
What are 1) federal vs. state power, 2) big vs. small states and 3) slavery?
This type of federalism, often associated with the New Deal, is likened to a "marble cake" because it involves overlapping responsibilities between state and federal governments.
What is cooperative federalism?
Laws that classify individuals based on race or national origin are subject to this level of judicial scrutiny.
What is strict scrutiny?
These are three constitutional limitations on free speech (three cases in which free speech can be legally restricted).
What are 1) in times of war/danger 2) obscenity, and 3) libel and slander?
In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in court, establishing this rule.
What is the exclusionary rule?
These are two constitutional clauses that the federal government has relied on to expand its power over time.
What are the necessary and proper clause and the commerce clause?
In this type of system, the central government holds most of the power, and any local governments exist at the discretion of the central authority.
What is a unitary system?
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to eliminate these, which were used in the South to prevent Black Americans from voting.
What are literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and other discriminatory practices?
These are the three provisions of the "Lemon test" laid out in the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
What are 1. the law must have a secular purpose, 2. it's primary effect must be neutral (neither advances nor inhibits religion), and 3. the law must not result in excessive government entanglement with religion?
This Supreme Court case established that there are stronger protections for the media which makes it hard for public officials to sue the press.
What is The New York Times v. Sullivan (1964).