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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. The Court voted to uphold the constitutionality of the university of Michigan law school's affirmative action policy - which gave preference of minority students.






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






3. 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.






4. Man claimed that the court should not find him guilty of polygamy since it was his religious duty. The court disagreed. [Free exercise]






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






6. 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






7. 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






8. The Army accused chief counsel - Roy Cohn - of pressuring the Army to give preferential treatment to G. David Schine - Who was a former McCarthy aide and a friend of Cohn's. McCarthy counter-charged that this accusation was made in bad faith - in ret






9. Established the Supreme Court's rationale for distinguishing between protected and unprotected speech. Fighting words






10. 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.






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






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






13. Defendants were charged and convicted for inciting resistance to the war effort and for urging curtailment of production of essential war material. They were sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Act did not violate ci






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






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






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






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






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






19. 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.






20. 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.






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






22. Incorporated the First Amendment's right to freedom of assembly.






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






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






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






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






27. 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






28. This case was an unsuccessful attempt to challenge Pennsylvania's restrictive abortion regulations.






29. Censorship did not violate the student's First Amendment rights of free speech; decision which held that public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established as forums for student expression are subject to a lower level of First






30. 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






31. Supreme Court ruling that simply publishing a defamatory falsehood is not enough to justify a libel judgment. 'Actual malice' must be proved to support a finding of libel against a public figure.






32. Challenged a Louisiana statute requiring that railroads provide separate but equal accommodations for blacks and whites. The Court found that separate but equal accommodations did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.






33. Held that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protected students from being forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Overturned MinersvilleISD v Gobitis [Free exercise]






34. 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.'






35. 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.






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






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






38. Ruled that the First Amendment protected radical and revolutionary speech - unless it posed a 'clear and present danger'. (overt action required) [Free Speech]






39. (no burning draft card) [symbolic speech]


40. Court ruled that a DC law banning hand guns was unconstitutional.






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






42. Court made it illegal to send or receive images online that are indistinguishable from that of a minor in a sexual act.






43. In this case - the Court ruled that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was not unconstitutional.






44. 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.






45. Names attached to five cases brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1857. In 1883 - the Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a variety of public accommodations could not be prohibited by the act because such discrimination was private discrimi






46. Overturning Furman v. Georgia - the case ruled that Georgia's rewritten death penalty statute is constitutional.






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






48. 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






49. Upheld student's rights to express themselves by wearing black armbands symbolizing protest of the Vietnam War.






50. A policy permitting student-led - student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment [est. clause and schools]