Choose one concept from the list of Civil Liberties terms below. Search the concept looking for a modern day court case or scenario that deals with this issue. Summarize it in your post. Skim classmates posts and comment on at least one for an additional 5 points. This comment may be simply a reaction or an opinion of the case discussed.
Writ of habeas corpus – A court order requiring explanation to a judge
why a prisoner is being held in custody.
Ex post facto law – Retroactive criminal law that works to the
disadvantage of a person.
Bill of attainder – Legislative act inflicting punishment,
including deprivation of property, without a trial, on named individuals or
members of a specific group.
Due process clause – Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the
power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment
prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law.
Selective incorporation – The process by which provisions of the bill of
rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied
to state and local governments.
Establishment clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme
Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all
religions.
Vouchers – Money government provides to parents to pay
their children’s tuition in a public or private school of their choice.
Free exercise clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that
Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
Bad tendency test - Interpretation of the First Amendment that
would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in
illegal action.
Clear and present danger
test – Interpretation
of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with
speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead
to evil or illegal acts.
Preferred position
doctrine – Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that freedom of
expression is so essential to democracy that governments should not punish
persons for what they say, only for what they do.
Nonprotected speech – Libel, obscenity, fighting words, and
commercial speech, which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all
circumstances.
Libel – Written defamation of another person. For
public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to
restrict libel actions are especially rigid.
Sedition - Attempting to overthrow the government by
force or use violence to interrupt its activities.
Obscenity – Quality or state of a work that taken as a
whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a
patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or
scientific value.
Fighting words – Words that by their very nature inflict injury
on those to whom they are addressed or incite them to acts of violence.
Commercial speech – Advertisements and commercials for products
and services; they receive less First Amendment protection, primarily to
discourage false and misleading ads.
Prior restraint – Censorship imposed before a speech is made or
a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.
Civil disobedience – Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with
orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.
