Deck 16: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Question 1

What is the importance of symbolic speech?

Answer 1

Students' answers may vary.
Symbolic speech is protected political expression that communicates with visual symbols instead of words.

Question 2

What is the difference between civil liberties and civil rights?

Answer 2

Students' answers may vary.
Civil liberties are the basic freedoms embodied in the Bill of Rights, such as speech and religion, which individuals enjoy and government cannot invade.Civil rights are constitutional guarantees, such as the right to vote and equal treatment under the law, that belong to people because of their status as citizens.

Question 3

Explain the importance of the landmark decision, Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka.

Answer 3

Students' answers may vary.
The Supreme Court rejected the separate but equal doctrine in the field of education and thereby began the end of legal racial segregation.

Question 4

Explain the importance of Stone's Footnote 4.

Question 5

What is the Supreme Court's position on obscenity?

Question 6

What are the Miranda warnings?

Question 7

What does separate but equal mean?

Question 8

What is prior restraint?

Question 9

Where did the Supreme Court find the right of privacy in the Constitution?

Question 10

Explain the different types of unprotected speech.

Question 11

What is the difference between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause?

Question 12

What role did the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People play in civil rights?

Question 13

What is incorporation?

Question 14

What is strict scrutiny?

Question 15

What was the decision in Roe v.Wade ?

Question 16

For what does the Supreme Court use the clear and present danger test?

Question 17

What are the Civil War amendments?

Question 18

For what purpose is the exclusionary rule?

Question 19

What is the purpose of the Lemon test?

Question 20

Explain McCarthyism.

Question 21

What was the importance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Question 22

Civil liberties are

A)the privileges of citizenship, such as voting, that are protected by government.
B)the freedoms of citizens, such as worship, with which government cannot interfere.
C)rights bestowed on individuals once they reach adulthood.
D)the rights of citizens established by Congress.

Question 23

Explain the two religion clauses in the First Amendment.What has the modern Supreme Court interpreted them to mean? What tests or guidelines does it use in controversies involving religion?

Question 24

The benchmark case concerning freedom of the press was

A)New York Times v.Sullivan.
B)FCC v.Pacifica Foundation.
C)Barron v.Baltimore.
D)Near v.Minnesota.

Question 25

Name and explain the Civil War amendments.Discuss the role the amendments have played in the efforts to expand or redefine civil rights and liberties over the last few decades.

Question 26

The Civil War amendments were major accomplishments because

A)they put an end to Jim Crow laws in the South.
B)they extended the Bill of Rights to include equality.
C)they revised outdated parts of the first ten amendments.
D)they effectively ended discrimination against blacks.

Question 27

Which of the following was used by the Supreme Court to make most protections in the Bill of Rights applicable to the states?

A)The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
B)The Necessary and Proper Clause
C)The doctrine of creative federalism
D)The Privileges and Immunities Clause

Question 28

The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." The Supreme Court, however, has never regarded these protections as absolute.What exceptions has it carved out in these two freedoms?

Question 29

In Schenck v.United States the Court ruled that the speech could be limited if it presented a(n)

A)malicious libel.
B)clear and present danger.
C)threat to community values.
D)intent to harm.

Question 30

Explain affirmative action.

Question 31

In the area of obscenity the Supreme Court has

A)had a hard time defining it.
B)created a clear and workable definition.
C)won the praise of feminists.
D)stemmed the tide of pornographic material.

Question 32

Who of the following was not a "friend" of civil liberties?

A)Earl Warren
B)Oliver Wendell Holmes
C)William Brennan, Jr.
D)Joseph McCarthy

Question 33

Explain the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Question 34

The Establishment Clause has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to

A)require an almost complete separation of church and state.
B)require that the federal government establish an official position on religious freedom.
C)require that the federal government leave religious matters to state and local governments.
D)require that the federal government support religious institutions when they perform civic functions such as education.

Question 35

Argue whether elite democrats or popular democrats take more of the credit for the progress made in reference to two of the following civil rights and liberties: free speech; civil rights for blacks; equal rights for women; privacy; freedom of religion; and criminal protections.

Question 36

According to the authors of this text, the civil rights and civil liberties that we now enjoy

A)were guaranteed by the signing of the Constitution.
B)took effect once the Bill of Rights was ratified.
C)are the product of a long struggle that continues today.
D)essentially can be traced to precedents set by the Burger Court.

Question 37

In Barron v.Baltimore , the Supreme Court ruled that

A)the Bill of Rights applied only to the national government.
B)the national government had the power to establish a national bank.
C)the Bill of Rights applied equally to the national and state governments.
D)there are certain occasions when restraints on speech are permissible.

Question 38

Government censorship before publication is called

A)strict scrutiny.
B)prior restraint.
C)judicial power.
D)prepublication review.

Question 39

Why is Stone's footnote 4 of U.S.v.Carolene Products Co.so important to civil libertarians?

A)It signaled that the Court was willing to limit protections for those accused of crimes.
B)It revealed that the Court would now consider cases involving affirmative action.
C)It showed that the Court would now turn its attention to safeguarding the Bill of Rights and political freedoms.
D)It marked the Court's abandonment of "strict scrutiny."

Question 40

In Brandenburg v.Ohio the Supreme Court

A)restricted the scope of the Establishment Clause.
B)set up strict standards for libel cases involving public officials.
C)expanded its protection of political speech.
D)declared that free speech does not extend to privately owned shopping malls.

Question 41

In the area of criminal procedure the Burger and Rehnquist Courts have

A)ignored public opinion far more than previous courts.
B)completely overturned the standards established by the Warren Court.
C)created important exceptions to earlier precedents.
D)repeatedly expanded upon the rulings made by the Warren Court.

Question 42

The Supreme Court outlined the specific rights criminal suspects must be informed of in

A)Mapp v.Ohio.
B)Miranda v.Arizona.
C)United States v.Leon.
D)Gideon v.Wainwright.

Question 43

The Warren Court's decisions in the Mapp and Miranda cases

A)put a crippling burden on law enforcement officials.
B)were overwhelmingly supported by the public.
C)were used as part of a law-and-order campaign by Richard Nixon.
D)have significantly reduced the number of criminal confessions.

Question 44

Black and white students are segregated into different schools within the same school district, but supposedly receive an equal education.This would be constitutional under the Supreme Court's decision in

A)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
B)Plessy v.Ferguson
C)Regents of California v.Bakke
D)Milliken v.Bradley

Question 45

In Roe v.Wade the Supreme Court struck down state abortion laws on the grounds that

A)only the federal government has the power to regulate reproductive decisions.
B)there can be no restrictions on a woman's right to choose at any time to have an abortion.
C)they violated a woman's right to privacy as protected by the Ninth Amendment.
D)they violated a woman's right to privacy as protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 46

The principle that segregation is inherently unequal was established in

A)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka.
B)Gideon v.Wainwright.
C)Plessy v.Ferguson.
D)Marbury v.Madison.

Question 47

The idea that there is a "penumbra of protection" created by certain amendments in the Bill of Rights is crucial to which constitutional right?

A)Free exercise of religion
B)Privacy
C)Free speech
D)Assembly

Question 48

Which of the following prevents government from interfering with the beliefs of religious groups?

A)The Free Exercise Clause
B)The Fourteenth Amendment
C)The Establishment Clause
D)The Fifth Amendment

Question 49

In ____, the Supreme Court began its consideration of gay and lesbian rights.

A)Roemer v.Evans.
B)Roe v.Wade.
C)Bowers v.Hardwick.
D)Lawrence v.Texas.

Question 50

The purpose of the exclusionary rule is to

A)keep cameras out of the courtroom.
B)regulate the legality of police searches and seizures.
C)exclude husbands from the abortion decision.
D)protect the identity of rape victims.

Question 51

The Lemon test has to do with

A)the sale of used cars.
B)defining acceptable forms of government aid to religious schools.
C)deciding whether unusual police procedures are constitutional.
D)the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Question 52

The importance of precedent in the Court's decision making is evident in which recent case?

A)Webster v.Reproductive Health Services
B)Griswold v.Connecticut
C)Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v.Casey
D)Roe v.Wade