Second through Fourth Amendments (151-163) 1. What is the gist of the Second Amendment?

It ensures the right to bear arms. 2. What is a militia? Part-time citizen soldiers who defend their communities in emergencies. 3. What is a standing army? A permanent army of professional soldiers. 4. What is the key question in the debate about the Second Amendment? Does the Second Amendment protect only the right of the states to have militias, or does it give individuals a right to bear arms for self-defense as well as national defense? 5. Explain the two arguments of the debate about the Second Amendment. a. The first clause of the Second Amendment gives the people the right to bear arms only as part of a well-regulated militia (the National Guard today). b. The militia, at the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, consisted of the body of the people, as affirmed in several of the state resolutions proposing that a bill of rights be added to the Constitution. 6. What does Charlton Heston think of the Second Amendment? He believes that the right to bear arms makes all other rights possible. 7. What did James Madison say about the right to bear arms in Federalist 46? He emphasized the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation. 8. What is the gist of the Third Amendment? It has to do with the quartering of troops. 9. Why is the Third Amendment less relevant today than it was originally? Because we dont have the problem today of troops being quartered in our homes during times of peace. 10. What is the primary way that the Third Amendment used today? It is understood to protect the right to privacy. 11. What is the gist of the Fourth Amendment? It protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. 12. Application of the Fourth Amendment seeks to strike a balance between catching criminals and protecting privacy. 13. What does the Fourth Amendment say about open-ended warrants? They are not allowed.

14. What are general warrants? Orders allowing government agents to search anywhere and anyone they wanted. 15. What is a writ of assistance? A type of general warrant used by British customs officials to search colonial homes and businesses for smuggled goods on which import taxes had not been paid. 16. Is wiretapping legal? Yes, so long as the listening devices are located outside the home. 17. What is probable cause? A reasonable belief that a particular person has committed a particular crime. 18. What are the six exceptions to probable cause? List them and describe each. a. Stop and frisk b. Airport searches c. Sobriety checkpoints d. Consent searches e. Drug testing f. Student searches 19. What are warrants? Court orders allowing certain actions, such as arrests or searches. 20. In what cases are warrants not necessary? List and describe each. a. Search incident to a lawful arrest b. Plain view c. Exigent circumstances d. Hot pursuit e. Automobiles 21. What is the exclusionary rule? What is its purpose? a. Legal doctrine that excludes from a trial any evidence seized illegally by police. b. To keep the police from violating the Fourth Amendment. 22. What are the two exceptions to the exclusionary rule? a. If police officers believe that the search warrant they are executing is legal, if they are acting in good faith, then the evidence may be admitted in court even if the warrant is later discovered to be invalid on technical grounds. b. The inevitable discovery exception, which holds that evidence will not be excluded if police can prove that they would have found it independently of the illegal search.

Fifth Amendment (164-172) 1. What is a grand jury? A large jury, normally of twenty-three citizens, that determines if there is enough evidence to charge a defendant with a crime 2. What is a petit jury? A trial jury, usually of six to twelve citizens, that decides the facts in a civil or criminal case. 3. What is an indictment? A formal criminal charge issued by a grand jury when a prosecutor has enough evidence for trial. 4. What is a presentment? Formal criminal charge issued by a grand jury independent a prosecutor. 5. What is an information? A sworn statement by a prosecutor that he has enough evidence for a trial. (For state prosecutors, in lieu of a grand jury.) 6. What is the argument that secrecy is essential to grand jury deliberations? To protect the reputations of people who are not actually indicted. 7. What is the argument against the secrecy of grand jury deliberations? They say that grand juries return indictments in the vast majority of cases, and that they no longer serve as an independent check on prosecutions. 8. What is double jeopardy? Trying a defendant more than once for the same offense. (Double jeopardy does not apply when the accused is retried because of a previous mistrial, in which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Other exceptions apply.) 9. What is self-incrimination? Compelling a defendant to testify against himself. 10. What is an inquisition? Questioning accused persons under oath to determine their guilt. 11. How might an inquisition be abused? Any answer could be used to condemn. 12. What is the right of accusation? Forcing the government to prove its case through evidence. 13. What is the abiding effect of Miranda v. Arizona (1966)?

The defendant must know his rights before he can voluntarily waive them. Thus, state and local police officers must follow the practice of the FBI and give suspects warnings 14. What is the difference between total immunity and use immunity? The government may grant a witness immunity from prosecution in order to force him to testify. One kind of immunity is total immunity, in which a witness cannot be prosecuted at all. A second kind is use immunity, in which the government may prosecute the witness based on evidence discovered independently of the testimony. 15. What is nontestimonial evidence? The Fifth Amendment applies only to testimonial evidence. It does not prevent the defendant from having to produce physical evidencesuch as blood samples, fingerprints, or handwriting exemplars. Such things are nontestimonial evidence. The defendant may also be forced to stand in a police lineup. Lie-detector tests are considered testimonial evidence. 16. What does the Fifth Amendment say about nontestimonial evidence? The Fifth Amendment does not apply to nontestimonial evidence. 17. What two amendments deal with the due process of law? The Fifth Amendment restricts only the national government; the Fourteenth Amendment restricts only the states. 18. What is substantive due process? Here, the content of the law must itself be fair. 19. What is procedural due process? Here, the rules by which a law is implemented must be fair. These include things such as trial by jury, presumption of innocence, and the right to have the government prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. 20. Do juveniles have the right of procedural due process given to adults? They are entitled to some of the same procedural rights as adults, although not all, when being tried in a juvenile court. 21. What is eminent domain? The governments power to take private property for public use. 22. How has eminent domain helped make America what it is today? Much of Americas infrastructurehighways, railroads, and damswas built through the power of eminent domain.

Sixth Amendment (173-180) 1. What is the basic subject of the Sixth Amendment?

The right to a fair trial. 2. How does the Sixth Amendment seek to balance the enormous powers and resources of the state to prosecute people? By giving power to the individual to prove his/her innocence. 3. Under what circumstances would a U.S. citizen not have the right to a public trial? Minor offenses. 4. What harm might be done to a defendant if his/her trial is delayed? The defendant may become guilty in the eyes of the community, even if he is innocent. Or, the witnesses memories can fade over time. 5. Why is it important that trials be public? Are there any cases where a trial might be too public? If so, what are they? To keep the courts from being an instrument of persecution. A trial might be too public, though, and prejudice the jury. 6. What is the venue of a trial? The location of the trial. 7. What is sequestering the jury? Isolating the jury from the community and the news media during a trial. 8. Why is trial by jury so important that the Constitution brings it up in three different places? (Article III, the Sixth Amendment, and the Seventh Amendment.) The American colonists depended on juries for justice independent of the crown. They were outraged when Parliament allowed the colonists to be tried in courts without juries for violations of the Stamp Act of 1765. Americans could also be transported back to England for trial. 9. What is plea bargaining? Process in which the defendant pleads guilty to criminal charges in exchange for a reduced sentence. 10. What is voir dire? Questioning potential jurors to reveal their biases and knowledge of the case. 11. What is a peremptory challenge? Excluding a potential juror without cause. 12. What is an arraignment? A court hearing where the defendant pleads guilt or innocence. 13. What is the legal definition of felony? A serious crime with a sentence of more than a year in prison.

14. What is the legal definition of a misdemeanor? A minor offense with a sentence of a brief jail term or a small fine. 15. What is cross-examination? The process of asking questions to challenge a witnesss testimony. 16. What is hearsay? Testimony about the statement of a third party, rather than something directly observed. 17. What is the importance of face-to-face confrontation (of the accused with the accuser)? It prevents a witness from testifying in secret against the accused. It enables a defendant to challenge a witnesss truthfulness in open court. Through the process of cross-examination, the defendant can ask questions to dispute the witnesss testimony. It also increases the likelihood that the witness is telling the truth, because often witnesses find it easier to lie about a defendant behind his back rather than to his face. 18. What is a subpoena? A court order forcing a witness to testify or produce relevant information. 19. What is the most important part of the Sixth Amendment, and why is it most important? The right to counsel. 20. What is a capital case? A case that involves the possibility of punishment by death. 21. Do defendants have the right to legal counsel during police questioning? Yes. 22. Why is it important to call defendants defendants rather than criminals? Because they have not yet been convicted.