Chapter.5 Civil Liberties Verified Test Bank - Logic of American Politics 9e Test Bank by Samuel H. Kernell. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 5: Civil Liberties
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following statements about civil liberties is accurate?
a. They have always had a prominent role in national discussions.
b. Their expansion is often controversial.
c. They can only be extended through legislative action.
d. Civil liberties receive much less attention than civil rights.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
2. Over the past century, determination of national civil liberties policy has shifted ______.
a. from nearly the exclusive jurisdiction of states and communities to Washington
b. from nearly the exclusive jurisdiction of Washington to states and communities
c. from nearly the exclusive jurisdiction of courts to the executive
d. from nearly the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress to states legislatures
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
3. What similarities exist between the development of civil rights and civil liberties?
a. For both civil rights and civil liberties, executive action by the President was decisive.
b. The expansion of civil liberties and civil rights was possible once the ability of opponents to use the filibuster in the Senate was broken.
c. For both civil rights and civil liberties, constitutional amendments and the judiciary played vital roles in expansion.
d. There really are no similarities because they deal with completely different issues.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
4. Advances in national civil liberties policy have frequently involved ______.
a. simply majoritarian decision-making such as the ballot initiative process
b. undermining the constraints of the Constitution
c. reining in majorities that assert themselves over the objections of nonconforming minorities
d. a national civil rights agenda fomented by Congress
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
5. Which branch of the federal government is designed to play a key role protecting civil liberties in the United States?
a. legislative
b. executive
c. judicial
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
6. What are the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution called?
a. Bill of Liberties
b. Incorporated Rights
c. Bill of Rights
d. Decile Provision
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Bill of Rights Checks Majority Rule
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
7. The Bill of Rights was designed to ______.
a. ensure that national majorities could impose their preferences on the press and the behavior of the citizenry
b. simply limit the capacity of state-level majorities to impose their preferences on the press and the behavior of the citizenry
c. maximize the capacity of the national government to enact the policy preferences of majorities
d. limit the capacity of government to impose conformity costs on those individuals and minorities whose views differ from the majority
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Bill of Rights Checks Majority Rule
Difficulty Level: Hard
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
8. Which of the following best describes the language of the Bill of Rights?
a. It seems generally clear and unequivocal but sometimes is ambiguous.
b. It allows wide latitude to politicians who want to change its constitutionally protected liberties.
c. It is never in conflict with other equally clear constitutional provisions.
d. It is so vague as to be meaningless until either Congress or the Supreme Court expands and defines its meaning.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bill of Rights Checks Majority Rule
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
9. Why did the Constitution not seriously address the question of civil liberties?
a. The Framers believed that a bill of rights would make the document too controversial and were more interested in its ratification.
b. The Framers believed that the federal government would not have enough power to threaten the liberties of citizens.
c. The Antifederalists insisted on removing the planned constitutional limitations to limit the scope of federal responsibilities.
d. The delegates were not able to engage in bargaining and compromise to reach an agreement on what such protections should look like.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Writing Rights and Liberties into the Constitution
Difficulty Level: Hard
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
10. In Federalist No. 84 Alexander Hamilton poses the question, “Why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?” He was expressing which of the following concerns?
a. that the federal government would go too far in protecting civil rights and would need to be constrained in that regard
b. that the people would have too much freedom
c. that the Supreme Court would overrule Congress
d. A list of rights might imply that the government could restrict freedoms not expressly protected.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Writing Rights and Liberties into the Constitution
Difficulty Level: Hard
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
11. What is the name of the process that uses the Fourteenth Amendment to make the Bill of Rights binding on the actions of state governments and not only the federal government?
a. enumeration
b. incorporation
c. socialization
d. polarization
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Writing Rights and Liberties into the Constitution
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
12. Although the Antifederalists lost their battle against ratification of the Constitution, which of the following is true?
a. They ultimately prevailed when public opinion turned against federalism.
b. Their chief legacy is passage of the bill of rights 2 years later.
c. They were able to achieve their political goals by establishing a Senate majority.
d. They prevailed by orchestrating a series of judicial impeachments early in the 19th century.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The First Ten Amendments
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
13. In 1833, in the case of Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court reasoned that the whole thrust of the Bill of Rights was ______.
a. directed exclusively at restraining state power
b. directed at restraining federal and state power equally
c. advisory in nature, directed at neither the national government nor the states
d. directed exclusively at restraining the power of the national government
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The First Ten Amendments
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
14. A unified national citizenship is provided for in the Constitution ______.
a. in the national citizen clause of Article I
b. only by implication
c. in the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment
d. expressly in the preamble
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
15. The second sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment, which includes both the “equal protection clause” and the “due process clause,” means in part that ______.
a. states are equally protected from the federal government dictating the process through which taxes are paid when due
b. all persons enjoy the same civil liberties and rights, which the states cannot deny without following reasonable, legally established procedures applied equally to everyone
c. those who want to challenge something under the U.S. Constitution can do so by filing a case in the nearest U.S. Court of Appeals
d. all persons enjoy the same civil liberties and rights that the federal government cannot deny without following reasonable procedures established by the states and applied as each state sees fit to all citizens
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
16. In the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases, the Supreme Court stated that ______ would “fetter and degrade state governments by subjecting them to the control of Congress.”
a. the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration
b. the broad application of the Fourteenth Amendment to state policy
c. the president’s executive order concerning butchers in New Orleans
d. the Emancipation Proclamation
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
17. The Supreme Court first began selectively incorporating into the Fourteenth Amendment those provisions of the Bill of Rights dealing with ______.
a. personal freedoms such as those protected in the Fifth Amendment
b. the Third Amendment prohibition against quartering soldiers
c. state election laws
d. the right to bear arms
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
18. The first provision of the Bill of Rights to be incorporated by the Supreme Court into the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause was ______.
a. the Fifth Amendment’s ban on taking private property without just compensation
b. the equal protection clause
c. the Ninth Amendment’s right to privacy
d. the Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial when accused of a felony
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Major versus Peripheral Rights
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
19. From the 1920s through the 1940s, the Supreme Court incorporated into the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment the First Amendment freedoms, which include ______.
a. the right to an attorney when arrested
b. the right to avoid quartering soldiers
c. speech, press, and religion
d. the right to bear arms
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
20. In part, the incorporation decisions handed down by the Supreme Court since 1925 have done which of the following?
a. severely limited the ability of individuals to seek redress in federal court for violations of their constitutional rights
b. caused a dramatic decrease in the docket of the Supreme Court
c. forced the states to amend their own constitutions to be more like the U.S. Constitution
d. offered new opportunities for litigation and have generated dramatic growth in civil liberties cases
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
21. Currently, the most accurate statement about the application of the Bill of Rights to the states is which of the following?
a. No provisions of the Bill of Rights are applied to the states.
b. Some of the provisions of the Bill of Rights are still not applied to the states.
c. The Bill of Rights has been added by formal amendment to the constitution of each state.
d. All of the provisions of the Bill of Rights are now applied to the states.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
22. The Bill of Rights has, during the 20th century, ______.
a. gradually by incorporation, come to be accepted as national policy that applies to every level of government
b. been so seriously restricted that most civil liberties are primarily protected by state constitutions
c. been incorporated into each state constitution so that all 50 states now actually have the exact language of the Bill of Rights amended onto each state constitution
d. become unimportant as struggles over individual rights no longer cause much political discord
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Civil Liberties as Public Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
23. How has Madison’s vision of the national government as the ultimate guarantor of individual rights fared throughout the years?
a. It has failed due to the demand by factions for repressive legislation.
b. It has been discredited by the Supreme Court.
c. It has largely been shown to be inaccurate by state action.
d. It has largely been realized.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
24. Incorporation of provisions of the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment occurred through which of the following?
a. judicial interpretation
b. legislative mandate
c. the amendment process
d. state constitutional conventions
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Judicial Interpretation
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
25. Judicial decisions regarding civil liberties ______.
a. are almost always unanimous since the language of the Bill of Rights is clear
b. reveal the personal and political ideologies of the justices as justices come and go from the court
c. are remarkably consistent over time
d. demonstrate that judges have the capability to ignore their personal and political ideologies and make the right decision
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Judicial Interpretation
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
26. Which of the following statements about Supreme Court rulings on freedom of speech is most accurate?
a. The Supreme Court provides equal protection for all kinds of speech.
b. The Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted the First Amendment, so few kinds of speech are protected.
c. The Supreme Court has imposed strict limits on political speech to promote greater civility in politics.
d. The Supreme Court has provided a high level of protection to speech that is expressly political, but there are limits to even this kind of speech.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Freedom of Speech
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
27. Which of the following amendments provides for freedom of speech?
a. First Amendment
b. Second Amendment
c. Third Amendment
d. Fourth Amendment
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Freedom of Speech
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
28. The “criminal anarchy” for which Benjamin Gitlow was arrested and convicted was which of the following?
a. violently resisting the draft
b. committing arson
c. organizing labor strikes
d. attempting to assassinate a New York senator
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Political Protest
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
29. Although in Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court established the Fourteenth Amendment’s jurisdiction over the states, when it came to free speech, which of the following was also true?
a. The Court soon expressed regret for the decision because the freed defendant, Benjamin Gitlow, started a violent riot with one of his speeches.
b. New York declined to follow the ruling by the Supreme Court order and never retried Gitlow.
c. Defendant Gitlow’s nomination to the Supreme Court some 25 years later was defeated because of his early activism.
d. Defendant Gitlow still had his state-level conviction upheld and went to prison.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Political Protest
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
30. The “clear and present danger” test ______.
a. requires the Supreme Court to consider all factors when determining whether speech should be restricted
b. requires the Supreme Court to consider whether the gravity of the evil discounted by its probability justifies the invasion of free speech
c. requires the Supreme Court to consider speech protected unless the probability is so high that the act will occur
d. requires the Supreme Court to restrict political speech if it presents any kind of danger to public safety
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Political Protest
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
31. Which of the following tests posits that the government cannot forbid “advocacy of the use of force or of law violation” unless the advocacy is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action”?
a. lemon test
b. clear and probable danger test
c. clear and present danger test
d. incitement test
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Political Protest
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
32. The Supreme Court has held which the following to be expression outside the bounds of speech protected by the First Amendment?
a. wearing black armbands
b. burning the American flag
c. obscenity
d. protesting at military funerals
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Sexually Explicit Expression
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
33. Which test stands as an example of the Supreme Court’s modern tendency to protect speech that the majority of Americans dislike or find offensive?
a. Schenck standard
b. Brandenburg standard
c. Gitlow test
d. Snyder test
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Political Protest
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
34. The difficulty with the doctrine for obscenity policy as set forth by the Supreme Court in the 1957 case Roth v. United States is which of the following?
a. The language is so ambiguous that future Courts translated the ruling into future libertarian victories.
b. It fail to address material that appeals to prurient interests.
c. Every key word in the passage is so unambiguous that it is not subject to local interpretation.
d. It so narrowly defines obscenity that it only applies to very specific kinds of materials.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sexually Explicit Expression
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
35. The case of Miller v. California reformulated the standard for obscenity and did which of the following?
a. It shifted primary authority for obscenity policy back to the states and, implicitly, to local governments.
b. It removed state and local government authority for determining obscenity policy.
c. It upheld the federal Child Online Protection Act.
d. It established barriers to the transnational transmission of pornography on the Internet.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sexually Explicit Expression
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
36. Which of the following has been a problem for the Supreme Court and law enforcement when it comes to obscenity?
a. The Court is split 5.4 on whether obscenity is protected by the Constitution.
b. The Court has not been able to make a distinction between sexually explicit images and sexually explicit text.
c. The Court has not adequately defined obscenity and drafted objective standards that enable judges and police to distinguish the merely pornographic or sexually explicit from the truly obscene.
d. The Court has adequately suppressed pornography that appears in the form of the press, such as magazines at convenience stores.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Sexually Explicit Expression
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
37. An independent press plays an indispensable role in maintaining a representative democracy for which of the following reasons?
a. It is typically run by the journalistic elite, who are better equipped to know for whom to vote than the average citizen.
b. Without reliable information about the performance of officeholders, citizens would be hard-pressed to monitor their agents, and politicians would find it difficult to communicate with their constituents.
c. Otherwise consumers have few opportunities to be exposed to commercial print ads from various parties and candidates competing for elective political office.
d. The government has elaborate authority to initiate prior restraint.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss the role of freedom of the press in U.S. society.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Freedom of the Press
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
38. Which of the following amendments provides for freedom of the press?
a. First Amendment
b. Fourth Amendment
c. Fifth Amendment
d. Sixth Amendment
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss the role of freedom of the press in U.S. society.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Freedom of the Press
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
39. Although the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of religion, before independence, which of the following was true?
a. Many of the early colonies designated official churches that believers and nonbelievers alike were forced to attend and support with taxes.
b. Freedom of religion was guaranteed in the last paragraph of the Articles of Confederation.
c. Freedom of religion was guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Articles of Confederation.
d. There were so few religions that the colonists felt that there were no need for such protections.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Freedom of Religion
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
40. Which of the following is true about the religious freedom provision of the First Amendment?
a. It established official churches in the early colonies.
b. It has been limited by the Fourteenth Amendment.
c. It applied restrictions on the states and the national government as soon as it was ratified.
d. It prohibits Congress from passing any legislation “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Freedom of Religion
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
41. Madison and Jefferson both subscribed to the view that the First Amendment erects a “wall of separation between church and state” ______.
a. but this is only one interpretation, as separation is not mentioned in the Constitution itself
b. but all of the other Founders were clear and unequivocal that the government was grounded in and relied on Christian religious doctrine
c. although the Constitution specifically calls for the federal promotion of “religious values”
d. but the Supreme Court has never addressed government entanglement in religion
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Freedom of Religion
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
42. Which of the following is true about the religious freedom provision of the First Amendment, which prohibits any legislation respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?
a. It has never been incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment.
b. It confirms that the country was founded as a Christian nation.
c. It requires the states to tax churches and other major religious institutions at the same rate as businesses.
d. It at first only applied to actions of the federal government.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Freedom of Religion
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
43. The Lemon test was designed to ______.
a. determine whether the government had violated the establishment clause
b. determine whether the federal government prevented the free exercise of religion
c. determine whether the First Amendment could regulate obscenity
d. determine whether a fair public trial occurred
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Lemon Test
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
44. Which of the following tests was used to root out policies that preferred religious groups generally over nonreligious groups engaged in a similar activity?
a. incitement test
b. clear and present danger test
c. lemon test
d. neutrality test
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Testing a Policy’s “Neutrality”
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
45. Which of the following statements about school prayer is accurate?
a. The Supreme Court ruled that school prayer was constitutional in Engel v. Vitale (1962).
b. Congress passed a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer, but not enough states ratified the amendment within the 7-year ratification window.
c. This issue is an exception to the rule that Supreme Court decisions do not stray very far beyond majority opinion.
d. Most of the states accepted Supreme Court rulings and complied with them.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: School Prayer and Bible Reading
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
46. The free exercise clause of the First Amendment has been interpreted to allow which of the following?
a. door-to-door solicitations but not animal sacrifice
b. animal sacrifice and door-to-door solicitations
c. animal sacrifice but not door-to-door solicitations
d. neither the ingestion of peyote nor door-to-door solicitations
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Free Exercise
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
47. Supreme Court rulings on the Second Amendment ______.
a. have left the lower federal courts to define the parameters of Second Amendment rights
b. have significantly weakened the individual rights arguments
c. imposed strict limitations on when and where citizens can carry guns
d. adopted a liberal interpretation of the amendment, so citizens are free to carry any type of weapon they desire
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.6: Describe the different positions in the debate over gun rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Gun Rights
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
48. Which of the following amendments posits that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”?
a. First
b. Second
c. Fourth
d. Fifth
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.6: Describe the different positions in the debate over gun rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Gun Rights
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
49. The rulings of the Supreme Court on criminal rights ______.
a. are consistent with the preferences of the American public
b. have changed as a result of the Heller decision on gun control
c. are limited because public safety and law enforcement are the responsibility of state and local governments
d. have become tougher for criminal suspects than they were during the 1960s
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Criminal Rights
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
50. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to allow for police searches and seizures of evidence without a warrant under which of the following circumstances?
a. when searching the personal effects of public school students
b. when an officer feels that a person has committed a crime
c. when using a thermal imaging device to conduct a blanket sweep of neighborhoods to search for basement marijuana grow operations
d. when searching with the consent of the suspect
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Fourth Amendment: Illegal Searches and Seizures
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
51. Despite the Fifth Amendment’s ban on self-incrimination, a witness can be compelled to testify against himself under which of the following circumstances?
a. if accused of treason
b. when there is a clear and present danger to the public if the defendant refused to testify
c. if granted immunity from prosecution
d. when prosecuted by the federal government for a state crime
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Fifth Amendment: Self-Incrimination
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
52. The effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright has been to ______.
a. prevent those accused of a crime from being forced to give a confession
b. ensure that defendants in criminal cases have the right to counsel
c. limit the admission of evidence at trial that was illegally collected
d. prevent the use of the death penalty in cases where it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sixth Amendment: Right to Counsel and Impartial Jury to Peers
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
53. The Supreme Court has held the death penalty to be which of the following?
a. cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment, which means it is unconstitutional for persons committed of crimes to be executed in the United States
b. constitutional throughout the history of the country
c. constitutional for the federal government but cruel and unusual for the states to carry out
d. constitutional after the states separated trials from sentencing so juries could consider both aggravating and mitigating circumstances
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Eighth Amendment: “Cruel and Unusual” Punishment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
54. Which of the following “excesses” of the Eighth Amendment have recently come under reassessment?
a. bail
b. double jeopardy
c. right to counsel
d. right to privacy
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Eighth Amendment: “Cruel and Unusual” Punishment
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
55. The Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut held a right to privacy to exist in penumbras of the Bill of Rights, which are best defined as ______.
a. topics not specifically mentioned but made implicit within the other amendments
b. those rights that are explicitly set forth in the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution)
c. those rights incorporated into the Constitution from the state constitutions
d. those explicit rights contained in the Fourteenth Amendment
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Privacy
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
56. Implicit zones of protected privacy rights on which existence of explicit rights depends are referred to as ______.
a. penumbras
b. privileges
c. constitutional clauses
d. community standards
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Privacy
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
57. Which of the following is true about the Supreme Court’s 1973 opinion in Roe v. Wade?
a. It was the first case to recognize a constitutional right to privacy.
b. It was the first time the Court had ruled on any issue regarding the decision of an individual to bear a child.
c. It legalized abortion despite the fact that all fifty states at the time had laws prohibiting abortions.
d. It ended abortion’s varying legality across the states.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Childbearing Choices
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
58. Which of the following was identified as the biggest problem with regard to informational privacy?
a. Federal and state laws have trouble keeping up with changing technology.
b. Third party users are becoming more prominent.
c. People are more willing to share private information online.
d. Warrants are not required to obtain information found online.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Privacy on the Internet
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
True/False
1. Civil liberties have always been prominent in the nation’s news and policy deliberations.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
2. Determination of civil liberties has shifted from the nearly exclusive jurisdiction of states and communities to the national government.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
3. Article I of the Constitution contains the Bill of Rights.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The First Ten Amendments
Difficulty Level: Easy
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
4. Whether the liberties in the Bill of Rights are competing with each other or with other parts of the Constitution, it creates a Pandora’s Box of unanswered questions.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bill of Rights Checks Majority Rule
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
5. A major share of the Supreme Court’s decisions concern civil liberties.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Judicial Interpretation
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
6. All of the provisions contained in the Bill of Rights have been applied to the states through selective incorporation.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
7. In Citizens United, a majority held that Congress cannot restrict political speech based on the speaker’s corporate identity.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Politics to Policy: Corporate Free Speech
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
8. The Supreme Court has had little trouble defining what constitutes obscenity and developing tests for determining whether sexually explicit speech should be protected.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.3: Explain the protections and limitations of freedom of speech.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sexually Explicit Expression
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
9. The case law surrounding the free exercise clause is relatively clear and simple compared with the history of religious establishment cases.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize common issues raised regarding freedom of religion.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Free Exercise
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
10. The exclusionary rule adopted in Mapp v. Ohio is absolute and cannot be challenged.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fourth Amendment: Illegal Searches and Seizures
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
11. With regard to information privacy, the law has had trouble keeping up with changing technology.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Privacy on the Internet
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
Essay
1. Contrast the nationalization of civil liberties with the nationalization of civil rights.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Nationalization of Civil Liberties
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
2. Explain the arguments surrounding the decision to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe what factors contributed to the nationalization of civil liberties in the United States.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bill of Rights Checks Majority Rule
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
3. What role does the Fourteenth Amendment play in protecting the civil liberties of American citizens?
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
4. How does the Supreme Court play an important role in protecting civil liberties?
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.2: Identify the steps that provided civil liberties protections under the Constitution.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Judicial Interpretation
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
5. When can police search or seize evidence without a warrant?
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fourth Amendment: Illegal Searches and Seizures
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
6. Define and explain the “exclusionary rule.”
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fourth Amendment: Illegal Searches and Seizures
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
7. When does a defendant have the right to counsel?
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify the four constitutional provisions for criminal rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fourth Amendment: Illegal Searches and Seizures
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
8. Explain and discuss the cases of District of Columbia v. Heller.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.6: Describe the different positions in the debate over gun rights.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Gun Rights
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
9. Explain the how the right to privacy is associated with reproductive rights.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.8: Relate how the Supreme Court came to recognize a right to privacy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Childbearing Choices
Difficulty Level: Hard
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.
10. Given the absolute language of the Bill of Rights, discuss whether the civil liberties policy is settled policy.
KEY: Learning Objective: 5.9: Discuss the historical evolution of civil liberties and contemporary debates related to them.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Civil Liberties as Public Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
TOP: SAGE Course Outcome: Articulate the foundations of American government, including its history, critical concepts, and important documents and achievements.