America Government

Judicial Review: The power of courts to declare unconstitutional the actions of the other branches and units of government.

Strict construction: The doctrine of constitutional interpretation holding that the document should be interpreted narrowly.

Loose construction: A doctrine of constitutional interpretation holding that the document should be interpreted broadly.

Judicial activism: The charge that judges are going beyond their authority by making the law and not just interpreting it.

Judicial restraint: The concept that judges should defer to the policymaking judgment of the legislative and executive branches of government unless their actions clearly violate the law or the Constitution.

State’s Rights: An interpretation of the Constitution that favors limiting the authority of the federal government while expanding the powers of the states

Jim Crow laws: Legal provisions requiring the social segregation of African Americans in separate and generally unequal facilities.

Civil liberties: The protection of the individual from the unrestricted power of government.

Civil rights: The protection of the individual from arbitrary or discriminatory acts by government or by other individuals based on an individual’s group status, such as race or gender.

Exclusionary rule: The judicial doctrine stating that when the police violate an individual’s constitutional rights, the evidence obtained as a result of police misconduct or error cannot be used against the defendant in a criminal prosecution.

Capital Punishment: The death penalty.

Sovereign Immunity: The legal concept that individuals cannot sue the government without the government’s permission.

Equal Protection: A provision found in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that declares that “No State shall . . . Deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Trial: The formal examination of a judicial dispute in accordance with law before...