SCOTUS
Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th Amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
An interpretation of the First Amendment holding that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
Clear and Present Danger Test
Established that aid to church-related schools must (1) have a secular legislative purpose; (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Protects the rights of persons accused of crimes, including protection against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and punishment without due process of law.
Fifth Amendment
Freedoms to think and act without government interference or fear of unfair legal treatment
Civil Liberties
Unanimously upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 which declared that people who interfered with the war effort were subject to imprisonment; declared that the 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech was not absolute; free speech could be limited if its exercise presented a "clear and present danger."
Schenck v. US (1919)
Clause in the First Amendment that says the government may not establish an official religion.
Establishment Clause
Avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a "prurient interest" and being "patently offensive" and lacking in value
Miller v. California (1973)
The constitutional amendment that forbids "cruel and unusual punishment", although it does not define the phrase. Through the Fourteenth Amendment, this Bill of Rights provision applies to the states as well as the federal government.
Eighth Amendment
The administration of justice according to established rules and principles
Due Process
Students in an Iowa school were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. Ruled that this suspension was unconstitutional, and that public school students do not "shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door."
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Nonverbal communication, such as burning a flag or wearing an armband. The Supreme Court has accorded some symbolic speech protection under the first amendment.
Symbolic Speech
Protected the freedom of the press by allowing the New York Times to publish the "Pentagon Papers" despite the Justice Department's order to restrict it
New York Times v. US
No unreasonable searches and seizures
Fourth Amendment
The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.
Selective Incorporation
the Supreme Court held that freedom of speech and of the press are fundamental liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the states, began the development of the incorporation doctrine.
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Court ruling that government cannot be involved with religion
Wall of Separation
Dealt with the Amish community's desire to pull their children from public school before the age of 16 so that they could help with farm and domestic work. The Court sided with the Amish and held that parents may remove children from public school for religious reasons
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Trial by jury in civil cases
Seventh Amendment
A government preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the United States, according to the First Amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota.
Prior Restraint
the Supreme Court case that set the standard for proving libel, declaring that in order to win a libel suit actual malice must be determined
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.
Libel
Held that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" protected by the 2nd Amendment is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment and applies to the states. The decision cleared up the uncertainty left in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller as to the scope of gun rights in regard to the states.
McDonald v. Chicago
Adopted after the Civil War and states, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Fourteenth Amendment
The speaking of false or malicious statements that damage someone's reputation.
Slander