AP Unit 2 Study Guide: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Time Frame: September 20- October 14 (Tentative)
Due: At end of unit
Readings: Wilson & Dilulio: Chapters 5-6, others TBA
Useful Sources:
Supreme Court Cases:
www.law.cornell.edu
www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
www.streetlaw.org/en/landmark.aspx
U.S. Department of Justice:
www.usdoj.gov
American Civil Liberties Union:
www.aclu.org
Important Key Terms/Words:
Due process of law
Freedom of expression
Clear-and-present-danger test
Sedition
Free exercise clause
Exclusionary rule
Good-faith exception
Strict scrutiny
De jure segregation
Equality of opportunity
Reverse discrimination
equal protection of the laws
freedom of religion
libel
Lemon test
establishment clause
search warrant
civil rights
separate-but-equal doctrine
de facto segregation
equality of result
Bill of Rights
selective incorporation
prior restraint
symbolic speech
wall-of-separation
Miranda rights
probable cause
suspect classifications
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
affirmative action
Be familiar with pivotal SCOTUS decisions discussed in class.
Discussion/Review Questions:
Chapter 5- Civil Liberties
1. What is the difference between civil liberties and civil rights?
2. Analyze the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment and incorporation doctrine on American civil liberties
in the states.
3. Who/what are considered “persons”?
4. Give examples of protected speech and unprotected speech.
5. What is the Supreme Court’s definition of obscenity? Is this definition clear in your opinion?
6. Give two examples of how war has inspired restrictions on civil liberties.
7. What is the importance of the Gitlow case?
8. Name three kinds of laws that have been ruled unconstitutional related to the establishment clause.
9. How have the 9/11/01 attacks and subsequent passage of the PATRIOT Act created a challenge to
current interpretation of civil liberties?
10. What are three ways that court rulings resolve conflicts that are different than the approach by the
executive or legislative branch?
Chapter 6- Civil Rights
1. What were some factors that made it difficult for African Americans to gain equality?
2. Describe the three major issues surrounding the Brown case.
3. What guidelines were set in the Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education decision to
determine the segregation of schools?
4. What were three problems with getting the Legislative Branch to pass civil rights laws?
5. What is racial profiling?
6. What similarities and differences can you discern between the African American civil rights movement
and that for women?
7. What is the “reasonableness standard”? How has it been used to scrutinize laws that seem to be biased
towards a particular gender/sexual classification?
8. What are three general standards (of about six) used to examine the constitutionality of affirmative
action programs?
9. What are the effects of the Lawrence v. Texas case?