The document provides explanations of key Supreme Court cases and legal concepts related to constitutional law and civil rights in the United States. It defines terms like strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, de jure segregation, de facto segregation, prior restraint, probable cause, symbolic speech, and the exclusionary rule. It also summarizes important cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona, Gideon v. Wainwright, and Lemon v. Kurtzman.

3. Q: Gitlow v New York
A:
• A supreme court case between Gitlow, a socialist,
who pushed and called for the establishment of
socialism in America.
• He was arrested for distributing left wing socialist
pamphlets.
• It was ruled that no state can deny a citizen of their
first amendment rights.
• This decision led to the incorporation doctrine.

4. Q: incorporation doctrine
A:
• The legal concept under which the Supreme Court
has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of
its provisions applicable to the states through the
Fourteenth Amendment.

5. Q: Lemon v Kurtzman
A:
• Supreme Court declared based on 1st amendment
that aid to church-related school must have:
1. A secular legislative purpose.
2. A primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits
the religion.
3. Cannot foster an executive government
entanglement with religion.

6. Q: Lemon test
A:
• a test for the level of financial involvement of
government agencies in religious schools based on
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971).
1. the government might assist religious entities if:
2. there is a legitimate secular purpose for the help,
3. the help does not have the primary effect of
advancing or prohibiting religion
4. the help does not create "excessive entanglement"
between the government and the religion.

7. Q: Engel v Vitale
A:
• Court ruled that all school-sanctioned prayer in
public schools is unconstitutional
• banned formal prayer in schools, government
would not make any religion the 'official' religion.

8. Q: University of California v Bakke
A:
• SC decision that a state university cannot admit less qualified
individuals solely based on their race. However it didn't hold that
this type of affirmative action was unconstitutional but just that
they had to be made differently.
• imposed limitations on affirmative action to ensure that providing
greater opportunities for minorities did not come at the expense
of the rights of the majority.
• affirmative action was unfair if it lead to reverse discrimination.
• The case involved the University of Calif., Davis, Medical School
and Allan Bakke, a white applicant who was rejected twice even
though there were minority applicants admitted with significantly
lower scores than his. A
• closely divided Court ruled that while race was a legitimate factor
in school admissions, the use of rigid quotas was not permissible.

9. Q: Mapp v Ohio
A:
• Dollree Mapp had been sentenced to seven years for position
of obscene material in 1957.
• the police had seized this material without a search warrant.
• Supreme Court applied 4th Amendment protections to the
states and said that the states were required to get search
warrants.
• The Court adopted a rule excluding from a criminal trial
evidence that the police obtained unconstitutionally or
illegally. This is called the exclusionary rule.
• The SC ruled that based on the 4th amendment, the evidence
had been seized illegally and the court reversed Mapp's
conviction.

10. Q: Gideon v Wainwright
A:
• Anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment
may be imposed, however poor he or she might be,
has a right to a lawyer according to the 6th
amendment.

11. Q: Miranda v Arizona
A:
• The SC established guidelines for police questioning and constitutional rights.
• helped define the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
• Required that arresting officers notify a suspect that “you have the right to remain
• silent...” and that the suspect has the right to the presence of an attorney during
• questioning.
• At the center of the case was Ernesto Miranda, who had confessed to a crime
during police questioning without knowing he had a right to have an attorney
present.
• Based on his confession, Miranda was convicted.
• The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that criminal suspects must
be warned of their rights before they are questioned by police.
• These rights are: the right to remain silent, to have an attorney present, and, if the
suspect cannot afford an attorney, to have one appointed by the state. The police
must also warn suspects that any statements they make can be used against them
in court.
• Miranda was retried without the confession and convicted.

12. Q: Miranda rights
A:
1. You have the right to remain silent.
2. Anything you do or say may be used against you in a court of law.
3. You have a right to consult an attorney before speaking to the
police and have an attorney present during questioning now or in
the future.
4. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for your
before any questioning if you wish.
5. If you decide to answer questions without an attorney present,
you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until
you talk to an attorney.
6. Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them
to you, are you willing to answer my questions with an attorney
present?

13. Q: Texas v Johnson
A:
• affirmed the Constitutional First Amendment
protection of protesters to burn the American Flag
as freedom of symbolic speech

14. Q: Roe v Wade
A:
• struck down laws prohibiting abortion during the
first trimester of pregnancy.

15. Q: New York Times v Sullivan
A:
• Statements about public figures are libelous only if
made with malice and reckless disregard for the
truth.

16. Q: Brown v Board of Education of Topeka
A:
• This overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and said that
segregation in schools was unconstitutional
because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

17. Q: Griswold v Connecticut
A:
• Constitution implicitly guarantees citizens' right to
privacy.
• A couple has the right of privacy concerning the issue
of use of contraceptives, and planned parenthoods
thus have the right to teach couples about the different
methods and uses of different contraceptives.
• There is no mention of the right of privacy in the
Constitution, in Griswold the Court pulled together
elements of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th
Amendments to recognize that personal privacy is one
of the rights protected by the Constitution

18. Q: Craig v Boren
A:
• gender cases will have a middle level of importance
compared to race and routine classifications.
Routine cases get most space, gender cases next,
and racial cases last.
• classification of individuals based on gender must
be related to an important government objective;
replaced minimum rationality standard.

19. Q: intermediate scrutiny
A:
• the test used by the supreme court in gender
discrimination cases.
• places the burden of proof partially on the
government and partially on the challengers to
show that the law in question is constitutional

20. Q: strict scrutiny
A:
• the criteria used by the Supreme Court in racial
discrimination cases and other cases involving civil
liberties and civil rights
• places the burden of proof on the government,
rather than the challengers, to show that the law in
question is constitutional

21. Q: New Jersey v TLO
A:
• Established a reasonable suspicion rule for school
searches
• TLO caught smoking in the bathroom, searched her
purse without a warrant and found lots of sensitive
material, claimed illegal search and evidence should be
suppressed
• supreme court held that students have the 4th
amendment right to be free from unreasonable search
and seizure in the schools.
• the case concerned whether school officials had the
right to search a student's purse.

22. Q: reasonable suspicion
A:
• Facts or circumstances which would lead a reasonable
person to suspect that a crime has been, is being, or
will be committed.
• Can be used to get a warrant for a situation where
there is a pretty low, but still some, expectation of
privacy, or to justify actions such as stop and frisk.
• the officer does not have to know exactly what criminal
activity the suspect may be up to. The stop and frisk
can therefore be based on a broader suspicion that may
encompass drugs or concealed weapons

23. Q: Schenck v US
A:
• state laws enforcing segregation by race are
constitutional if accommodations are equal as well
as separate.
• subsequently overturned by Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka.

24. Q: Adarand v Pena
A:
• federal programs that classify people by race, even
for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding
opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to
be unconstitutional.
• Such programs must be subject to the most
searching judicial inquiry and can survive only if
they are "narrowly tailored" to accomplish a
"compelling governmental interest."

25. Q: Santa Fe v Doe
A:
• Football game prayers were public speech
authorized by a government policy and taking place
on government property at government-sponsored
school-related events and were unconstitutional
under the Establishment Clause of the First
Amendment. Student-initiated, student-led prayers
at football games are unconstitutional.

26. Q: Roper v Simmons
A:
• Christopher Simmons was convicted at 17 years old
and sentenced to death in 1993. The state found
that this was unconstitutional since the public today
found that sentencing minors to death was cruel
and unusual punishment.
• Result: The Court ruled that evolving standards
have indicated that sentencing minors to death is
both cruel and unusual under the 8th A.
Overturned Stanford v Kentucky - incorporation

27. Q: McDonald v Chicago
A:
• 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.

28. Q: Edmonson v Leesville
A:
• Edmonson sued Leesville for negligence
• Leesville used 2 out of the 3 peremptory to remove
black jurors Edmonson asked for an explanation but
was turned down
• when selecting a jury for civil cases, attorneys must
be race neutral when eliminating jurors (cannot
eliminate guy because he is black and so is
defendant)

30. Q: establishment clause vs free exercise clause
Establishment clause
• the First Amendment
guarantee that the
government will not create
and support an official state
church
• Prohibits the establishment of
a national religion
Free exercise clause
• the First Amendment guarantee
that citizens may freely engage
in the religious activities of their
choice
A:

31. Q: prior restraint
A:
• 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 case of Near v.
Minnesota.

32. Q: probable cause
A:
• the situation occurring when the police have reason to
believe that a person should be arrested. In making the
arrest, the police are allowed legally to search for and
seize incriminating evidence.
• Probable cause to search means a government agent
has information that will lead a person of reasonable
caution to believe that a search of a particular place
will turn up specific evidence of a crime.
• Probable cause to arrest means a government agent
has information that will lead a reasonable person to
believe that a crime's been committed and the suspect
probably committed it.

33. Q: symbolic speech
A:
• nonverbal communication, such as burning a flag or
wearing an armband.
• The Supreme Court has accorded some symbolic
speech protection under the first amendment.

34. Q: exclusionary rule
A:
• the rule that evidence, no matter how
incriminating, cannot be introduced into a trial if it
was not constitutionally obtained.
• The rule prohibits use of evidence obtained through
unreasonable search and seizure.

35. Q: 14th amendment/ due process clause/ equal
protections clause
14th amendment
• all the laws in bill of
rights pertain to states
as well. Due process
clause, citizenship
clause, loss of
citizenship clause, equal
protection clause and
incorporation.
Due process clause
• Says that government does
not have the right to deprive
people of life, liberty and
property
• Substantive- Constitutional
requirement that
governments act reasonably
and that the substance of
the laws themselves be fair
and reasonable; limits what
a government may do.
• Procedural- Constitutional
requirement that
governments proceed by
proper methods; limits how
government may exercise
power.
A:
Equal protections clause
• no state can deny any
citizen equal protection
of the law

36. Q: de jure vs de facto segregation
De jure
• Segregation imposed by law.
De facto segregation
• Segregation resulting from
economic of social conditions or
personal choice.
A:

37. Q: shield laws
A:
• Laws created to protect news reporters from being
forced to testify in courts or disclose confidential
information
• allows them protect their source

38. Q: comparable worth
A:
• the issue rose when women who hold traditionally
female jobs are paid less than men for working at
jobs requiring comparable skill.

39. Q: gray liberation
A:
• Movement against elderly age discrimination.

40. Q: Voting Rights Act of 1965
A:
• invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the
vote and authorized federal examiners to register
voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks
• as more blacks became politically active and elected
black representatives, it brought jobs, contracts,
and facilities and services for the black community,
encouraging greater social equality and decreasing
the wealth and education gap

41. Q: Civil Rights Act 1964
A:
• This act made racial, religious, and sex
discrimination by employers illegal and gave the
government the power to enforce all laws
governing civil rights, including desegregation of
schools and public places.

43. Q: 1st amendment
A:
• establishes the four great liberties: freedom of the
press, of speech, of religion, and of assembly.

44. Q: 2nd amendment
A:
• Right to Bear Arms

45. Q: 3rd amendment
A:
• No quartering of troops

46. Q: 4th amendment
A:
• Search & seizure
• Searchers must have probable cause
• Cannot have unreasonable search & seizure
• Need search warrant specifying area to be searched
– If Police have arrest warrant, they can search immediate
area without search warrant
• Exclusionary rule

47. Q: 5th amendment
A:
1. No self incrimination- permits an individual to refuse to disclose
information that could be used against them in a criminal prosecution. The
purpose of this right is to inhibit the government from forcing a confession
2. Due process- NATIONAL government must observe fair procedures when
it denies a person life, liberty, or property
3. Eminent domain- government can take private property for a public
purpose, but it must provide fair compensation to the owners of that
property
4. Double jeopardy- prohibits state and federal governments from
reprosecuting for the same offense a defendant who has already been acq
uitted or convicted
5. Grand jury- A jury of persons who, in private, hear evidence presented by
the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand
trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was
committed, it issues an indictment (to bring into
trial); they determine whether Probable Cause
exists to believe that the accused has committed a crime, and they return
an indictment

48. Q: 6th amendment
A:
1. Right to lawyer- The accused also has the right to an attorney (a lawyer).
If you can not afford an attorney, one will be given to you by the court
2. Jury of peers/ public trial- The state can not put them in a warehouse
and question them about the crime. It must be available to the public so
that it is fairer to the accused.
3. Right to impartial jury- The trial must be held by an impartial jury. The
jurors can not be prejudiced against the accused or the crime that they've
been accused of, or it would be unfair.
4. Face eyewitnesses- The accused has the right to know what they are
being charged with and why they're being held in jail. The accused also
has the right to know who is saying that they've committed the crime, and
the right to ask them questions.
5. Speedy trial- The accused has the right to a quick trial. This means that
the state can not make them sit in jail for 6 years while they wait to have a
trial.

49. Q: jury in civil cases
A:
• extends the right to a jury trial to federal civil cases
(i.e. car accidents, disputes between corporations for
breach of contract, or most discrimination or
employment disputes.)
• Can be brought to civil court if dispute involves at least
$20
• In civil cases, the person bringing the lawsuit (the
plaintiff) seeks money damages or a court order
preventing the person being sued (the defendant) from
engaging in certain conduct.
• To win, the plaintiff must prove their case by over fifty
percent of the proof.

50. Q: 8th amendment
A:
• No cruel & unusual punishment
– Death penalty/ capital punishment is constitutional
depending on the case
• No excessive bail:
– Bail-the money paid by a defendant in a criminal case in
exchange for his or her release from jail before trial. Bail
is returned to the defendant when they appear at trial
but is forfeited to the government if they don’t appear.
In this way, bail provides an incentive for a defendant to
remain in the area and participate in the trial; promotes
the ideal of being innocent until proven guilty

51. Q: 9th amendment
A:
• Unlisted rights
• James Madison’s attempt to ensure that the Bill of
Rights was not seen as granting to the people of the
United States only the specific rights it addressed.

52. Q: 10th amendment
A:
• Reserved powers to states
• States: public policies dealing with social, family, &
moral issues, regulate drinking ages, marriage &
divorce, speed limits, clean air, welfare, health care,
education, welfare, civil rights, unemployment,
minimum wage,

53. Q: 13th amendment
A:
• This amendment freed all slaves without
compensation to the slaveowners.
• It legally forbade slavery in the United States.

54. Q: 14th amendment
A:
1. Citizenship clause- overturn the case of Dred Scott v.
Sanford
2. Privileges or immunities clause- No state would be allowed
to abridge the "privileges and immunities" of citizens
3. Due Process Clause- states cannot pass arbitrary or unfair
laws
4. Equal Protection Clause- limits the ability of states to
discriminate against people based on their race, national
origin, gender, or other status; equal opportunity
5. State Action- The Congress shall have the power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

55. Q: FREE RESPONSE 14th amendment/ due process
clause/ equal protections clause
14th amendment
• all the laws in bill of
rights pertain to states
as well. Due process
clause, citizenship
clause, loss of
citizenship clause,
equal protection
clause and
incorporation.
Due process clause
• Says that government does not have
the right to deprive people of life,
liberty and property
• It protects procedural rights – states
cannot take peoples’ “life, liberty , or
property without due process of
law.” These rights of process include,
for example, a trial by an impartial
jury with evidence obtained in
compliance with the Fourth
Amendment’s warrant requirement.
• Substantive- Constitutional
requirement that governments act
reasonably and that the substance of
the laws themselves be fair and
reasonable; limits what a
government may do.
• Procedural- Constitutional
requirement that governments
proceed by proper methods; limits
how government may exercise
power.
• Roe v Wade, Griswold v Connecticut
A:
Equal protections clause
• no state can deny any
citizen equal protection
of the law
• Equal opportunity
• states must apply the law
equally and cannot
discriminate against
people or groups of
people arbitrarily. It does
not mean that all people
have to be treated the
same way
• Brown v Board, University
of California v Bakke

56. Q: 15th amendment
A:
• declared that citizens cannot be denied the right to
vote because of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.