Take this Quiz: AP US Government — civil liberties and civil rights | Zestly

Question 1

The Bill of Rights was written to restrain the national government. How did its provisions come to bind the states as well?

Accepted Answer

The Supreme Court has held, one provision and one case at a time over more than a century, that particular guarantees are among the liberties the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause protects against the states

Answer

Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 made every federal constitutional protection binding on the states immediately and automatically

Answer

A state must first write an equivalent guarantee into its own constitution before a federal court will enforce it there

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A single decision applied the whole Bill of Rights to the states at once, settling the question

Question 2

A state board of education composed a short non-denominational prayer and directed that it be said aloud at the start of the school day, with any pupil free to remain silent or leave the room. In Engel v. Vitale (1962) the Supreme Court held this unconstitutional. What was the reasoning, and what did the decision NOT decide?

Accepted Answer

That the state itself had composed and prescribed a prayer, which is establishment whether or not the prayer is brief, non-denominational or voluntary — the decision saying nothing about prayer by pupils on their own initiative

Answer

That all religious expression is forbidden on public school premises, including private prayer by pupils

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That prayer led by a school is permissible provided it is non-denominational and no pupil is compelled to join

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That pupils may be required to take part where the school offers a procedure for opting out

Question 3

Wisconsin required school attendance to the age of sixteen. Amish parents withdrew their children after the eighth grade on religious grounds and were prosecuted. What did the Supreme Court hold in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), and how did it limit that holding?

Accepted Answer

That the attendance law could not be enforced against these families, the state's interest in the final year or two of schooling not outweighing the burden on a long-established religious community — while stressing that a philosophical or personal objection, however sincere, would not have sufficed

Answer

That parents may determine the curriculum taught in public schools where their religious convictions are engaged

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That a neutral law of general application never has to give way to a religious objection, whatever the burden

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That any sincerely held religious belief exempts a believer from any legal obligation that conflicts with it

Question 4

Pupils wore black armbands to school to signal a political view and were suspended under a rule adopted two days earlier. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) the Court found for the pupils. What standard did it set, and what does that standard not cover?

Answer

That a school may prohibit any expression it considers offensive or inconsistent with its mission

Answer

That pupils hold exactly the rights an adult would hold in a public street, the school setting making no difference

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That pupils may say anything at all unless it interferes with the timetable, the school's own educational purposes being irrelevant

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That expression by pupils is protected unless the school can show it would substantially disrupt the work of the school or invade the rights of others — a standard about consequences, not about whether officials dislike the message

Question 5

The government sought a court order stopping newspapers from publishing a classified study, arguing that publication would damage national security. In New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) the Court refused. What does the decision establish?

Answer

That publication may be stopped in advance whenever the government asserts that national security is engaged

Answer

That the First Amendment offers no protection once documents are classified, classification being a determination for the executive

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That any attempt to stop publication in advance carries a heavy presumption against it, and the government must carry an exceptionally weighty burden to overcome it — which it failed to do here

Answer

That the government may freely prevent publication of material likely to embarrass officials