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Civil Rights And Civil Liberties Court Cases

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  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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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. Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race.






2. 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?






3. 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]






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






5. Evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law.






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






7. Incorporated the free speech clause of the First Amendment - ruling that the states were not completely free to limit forms of political expression.






8. 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






9. 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]






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






11. Extended 1981 ruling to high schools for use of facilities by religious groups after hours [est. clause and schools]






12. 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.






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






14. The Court concluded that St. Paul - Minnesota's Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance violated the First Amendment because it regulated speech based on the content of the speech.






15. Free exercise of religion not violation of compulsory attendance laws; Amish children do not have to go to school until they are 16---they may stop after the 8th grade






16. The Court ruled that the use of the swastika is a symbolic form of free speech entitled to First Amendment protections and determined that the swastika itself did not constitute 'fighting words.' [symbolic speech]






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






18. The Court ruled that the recitation in public classrooms of a non-denominational prayer was unconstitutional and a violation of the establishment clause.






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






20. 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.






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






22. Concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to free speech against the draft during World War I. Charles Schenck was the Secretary of the Socialist party and was responsible for printing - distributing - and mailing 15000 leaflets






23. Granted indigents the right to counsel






24. Court ruled that laws banning animal sacrifice were unconstitutional because they targeted the Santeria religion specifically.






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






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






27. 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






28. The Court found that a San Francisco law banning cleaners from operating in wooden buildings violated the Fourteenth Amendment in its application






29. Supreme Court case that established the Constitution's implied right to privacy. (Birth control case)






30. 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.






31. 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






32. Supreme court decision holding that school segregation is inherently unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection; marked the end of legal segregation in the US.






33. The last time the Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of the Second Amendment; ruled that the amendment was only intended to protect a citizen's right to own ordinary militia weapons.






34. Follow-up to Brown v. Board of Education - this case laid out the process for school desegregation and established the concept of dismantling systems 'with all deliberate speed.'






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






36. The objectives of the military allow it to restrict the religious rights of individuals in the interest of cohesiveness. The Court did not endeavor to assess the military's claims concerning the importance of regulating the appearance of its members.






37. The Court overturned the conviction of a director of a Communist youth camp under a state statute prohibiting the display of a red flag.






38. Established the actual malice standard. In cases of libel or slander - public figures must prove that the author had 'knowledge of falsity and reckless disregard for the truth.'






39. You can burn the flag [symbolic speech]






40. Supreme Court decision that said it was unconstitutional to keep Mexican-Americans off of juries.






41. The confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment does not guarantee defendants an absolute right to come face to face with their accusers.






42. Public schools may not have clergy lead prayers at graduation ceremonies [est. clause and schools]






43. A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment required that government demonstrate a compelling government interest before denying unemployment compensation to someone Who was fired b






44. Established exclusionary rule [4th amendment]; Fremont Weeks was suspected of using the mail system to distribute chances in a lottery - which was considered gambling and was illegal in Missouri. State agents entered his home - searched his room - an






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






46. 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






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. Peremptory challenges cannot be used to exclude all people of a given race (in this case - African Americans) from a jury pool.






49. Illegal to discuss overthrowing the government [free speech]






50. The Court fashioned the direct incitement test for deciding whether certain kinds of speech could be regulated by the government. This test holds that advocacy of illegal action is protected by the First Amendment unless imminent action is intended a