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Civil Rights And Civil Liberties Court Cases

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This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. On this appeal of the 1987 McCleskey case - the Court produced new standards designed to make it much more difficult for death-row inmates to file repeated appeals.






2. Turned the tide in terms of constitutional litigation - ruling that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited unreasonable classifications based on sex.






3. 'pentagon papers' executive efforts to prevent publication forbidden (Ellsburg & Vietnam)






4. The Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.






5. Incorporated a portion of the Fourth Amendment by establishing that illegally obtained evidence cannot be sued at trial.






6. The Supreme Court said that the Second Amendment protects a pre-existing - private - individually-held right - to keep arms and to bear arms - without regard to a person's relationship to a militia.






7. States may provide school vouchers to parents that may use the money to attend religious school. [exception to lemon v. kurtzman]






8. Announced that the public and the press have a First Amendment right to attend criminal trials.






9. The Supreme Court found that a woman's right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy that could be implied from specific guarantees found in the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.






10. This Act prescribed fines up to $10000 and prison up to 20 yrs for a variety of loosely defined antiwar activities. [free speech]






11. A Colorado constitutional amendment precluding any legislative - executive - or judicial action at any state or local level designed to bar discrimination based on sexual preference was ruled not rational or reasonable.






12. Also called the Pentagon Papers case; the Supreme Court ruled that any attempt by the government to prevent expression carried 'a heavy presumption' against its constitutionality.






13. Case wherein the Supreme Court began to formulate rules designed to make it easier for states to regulate obscene materials and to return to communities a greater role in determining What is obscene.






14. Concluded that the U.S. Congress lacked the constitutional authority to bar slavery in the territories; this decision narrowed the scope of national power while it enhanced that of the states. Also declared that slaves couldn't sue since they weren't






15. The Court ruled that a redistricting plan in Texas did not intentionally limit Latino representation.






16. Halt to all death penalty punishments in nation until a less arbitrary method of sentencing was found [8th]






17. Death penalty is not 'cruel and unusual punishment' in cases of murder [8th]






18. Selectively incorporates freedom of the press -The Court ruled that a Minnesota law that targeted publishers of 'malicious' or 'scandalous' newspapers violated the First Amendment






19. Limitation on the scope of Tinker ruling. prohibiting certain styles of expression that are sexually vulgar.






20. In upholding several restrictive abortion regulations - the Court opened the door for state governments to enact new restrictions on abortion.






21. The Supreme Court - however - held that the ordinances were neither neutral nor generally applicable: rather - they applied exclusively to the church. Because the law was targeted at Santera






22. If a defendant cannot afford an attorney the state must provide one. Incorporated the 6th amendment.






23. Law must be clearly secular - not prohibiting or inhibiting religion - and there should be no excessive entanglement






24. Held that the Justice Department does not have the authority to block physician assisted suicides.






25. Decision that limited the application of the Bill of Rights to the actions of Congress alone.






26. Case wherein the Supreme Court adopted the exclusionary rule - which bars the use of illegally obtained evidence at trial.






27. You may believe whatever you wish - but you may not be able to exercise that belief.






28. Case that ruled Oregon's law barring women from working more than ten hours a day was constitutional; also an attempt to define women's unique status as mothers to justify their differential treatment.






29. By ruling that a state law violated the freedom of the press - the Supreme Court incorporated the free press provision of the First Amendment.






30. The Fourteenth Amendment did not impose specific limitations on criminal justice in the states - and that illegally obtained evidence did not necessarily have to be excluded from trials in all cases.






31. Paying legislative chaplains and opening a legislative body with a prayer does not violate the establishment clause. (Long standing tradition - they're adults) [exception to lemon v. kurtzman]






32. The Court reversed its 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick by finding a Texas statute that banned sodomy to be unconstitutional.






33. Set the Court's rationale of selective incorporation - a judicial doctrine whereby most but not all of the protections found in the Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment.






34. 'Bad Tendency Doctrine -' speech restricted if it has tendency to lead to illegal actions; selectively incorporated freedom of speech to states






35. A landmark case in the area of U.S. criminal procedure - in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment protection against 'unreasonable searches and seizures' may not be used in criminal






36. When a government operates a 'limited public forum -' it may not discriminate against speech that takes place within that forum on the basis of the viewpoint it expresses—in this case - against religious speech engaged in by an evangelical Christian






37. Fed can limit speech that doesn't lead to action (upholding Smith Act - Which made it a crime to support any communist organization)






38. The Court ruled that an all-male jury did not violate a woman's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.






39. The Fifth Amendment requires that individuals arrested for a crime must be advised of their right to remain silent and to have counsel present.






40. Defined the power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over 'indecent' material as applied to broadcasting; some kid over heard Filthy Words routine on TV - so the dad sued. [obscenity]






41. Declared that a work is obscene and may be regulated by the gov if work taken as a whole appeals to prurient interests - work portrays sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and work taken as a whole lacks literary - artistic - political or scien






42. Identified an implied right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution using the 1st - 3rd - 4th - 5th - and 9th amendment. Hint: This case involved birth control and married couples... relate this somehow to the Griswold family vacation movies?






43. The Supreme Court used this case to end capital punishment - at least in the short run.






44. Case in which the Supreme Court interpreted the First Amendment to allow Congress to restrict speech that is 'of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.'






45. The Court ruled that keeping drunk drivers off the roads may be an important governmental objective - but allowing women aged eighteen to twenty-one to drink alcoholic beverages while prohibiting men of the same age from drinking is not substantially






46. Religious organization can obtain federal grants to help solve societal problems [exception to lemon v. kurtzman]






47. The Court ruled that a Nebraska 'partial birth' abortion statute was unconstitutionally vague and unenforceable - calling into question the laws of twenty-nine other states.






48. This decision expanded the types of beliefs that can be used to get conscientious objector status. The depth and fervency of the beliefs - rather than their status as part of an established religious system - became fundamental to determining which v






49. States not allowed to prevent or punish inflammatory speech unless it will lead to imminent lawless action [free speech]






50. Peyote smoking member of native american church denied unemployment compensation [Free exercise]