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






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






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






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






5. 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






6. 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]






7. 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






8. Mandatory prayer in schools is a violation of the establishment clause






9. Prior restraint case; the Court ruled that a trial judge could not prohibit the publication or broadcast of information about a murder trial.






10. 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






11. Case wherein the Court broke with tradition and issued a unanimous decision against the Little Rock School Board - ruling that the district's evasive schemes to avoid the Brown II decision were illegal.






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






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






14. 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]






15. Students may be searched by school administrators if they have reasonable belief---this is a lower standard than probable cause.






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






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






18. 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.






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






20. All defendants must be informed of legal rights before they are arrested [5th]






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






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






23. 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






24. 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.






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






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






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






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






29. Unsuccessful attempt to challenge Georgia's sodomy law. The case was overturned by Lawrence v. Texas.






30. Although the tests were searches under the Fourth Amendment - they were reasonable in light of the schools' interest in preventing teenage drug use.






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






32. Nonverbal communication - such as burning a flag or wearing an armband. The Supreme Court has accorded some symbolic speech protection under the first amendment.






33. The Court ruled that public schools could compel students—in this case - Jehovah's Witnesses—to salute the American Flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance despite the students' religious objections to these practices. [Free exercise]






34. Tightened restrictions on foreign-born Americans and limited speech [free speech]






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






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






37. 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






38. 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?






39. MALDEF failed to convince the Court that educational funds should be distributed equally among school districts.






40. 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]






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






42. The Supreme Court ruled that all vestiges of de jure discrimination must be eliminated at once.






43. The Court declared that a law banning peyote use was constitutional because it did not specifically target the Native American Church.






44. Due process in suspension or expulsion






45. 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.'






46. The Court held that in order to be obscene - material must be 'utterly without redeeming social value.'






47. 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






48. The Court determined that direct government assistance to religious schools is unconstitutional In the majority opinion - the Court created what has become known as the 'Lemon Test' for deciding if a law is in violation of the establishment clause.






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






50. 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.