Chapter 4 Government

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  1. Amicus Curiae Brief
    A legal document filed by an oranization that is not a party to a lawsuit to provide additional information and to attempt to influence the outcome of the case.
  2. Civil Liberties
    Those personal freedoms that are protected for all indivisuals. Civil liberties typically involve restraining the government's actions against individuals.
  3. Incorporation theory
    The view that most of the protections of the bill of rights apply to state governments through the fourteenth amendment's due process clause.
  4. Establishment clause
    The part of the first amendment prohibiting the establishment of a church officially supported by the national government. It is applied to questions of state and local government aid to religious organizations and schools, the legailty of allowing or requiring school prayers, and the teaching of evolution versus intelligent design.
  5. Free excercise clause
    The provision of the first amendment guaranteeing the free excercise of religion.
  6. Prior restraint
    Restraining an action before the activity has actually occured. When expression is involved, this means censorship.
  7. Symbolic speech
    Nonverbal expression of beliefs, which is given substantial protevtion by the courts.
  8. Commercial speech
    Advertising statements, which increasingly have been given first amendment protection.
  9. Clear and present danger test
    The test proposed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for determining when government may restrict free speech. Restrictions are permissible, he argued, only when speech creates a clear and present danger to the public order.
  10. Defamation of character
    Wrongfully hurting a person's good reputation. The law imposesa general duty on all persons to refrain from making false, defamatory statements about others.
  11. Slander
    The publuc uttering of a false statement that harms the good reputation of another. The statement must be made to, or within the hearing of, persons other than the defamed party.
  12. Libel
    A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, buisness, or property rights.
  13. Actual Malice
    Either knowledge of a defamatory statement's falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth.
  14. Public figure
    A public official, movie star, or other person known to the public because of his or her position or activities.
  15. Gag order
    An order issued by a judge restricting the publication of news about a trial or a pretrial hearing to protect the accused's right to a fair trial.
  16. Writ of Habeas Corpus
    Habeas Corpus means, literally, "you have the body". A writ of habeas corpus is an order that requires jailers to bring a prisoner before court or judge and explain why the person is being held.
  17. Arraignment
    The first act in a criminal proceeding , in which the defendant is brought before a court to hear the charges against him or her and enter the plea of guilty or not guilty.
  18. Exclusionary rule
    A policy forbidding the admission at trial of illegally seized evidence.
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Chapter 4 Government
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