1. What is the U.S. Constitution?
Answer: The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the United States, outlining the structure of government, the powers of its branches, and the rights of citizens.
2. What are the three branches of government?
Answer: The three branches are the executive (headed by the President), the legislative (Congress), and the judicial (the courts). Each branch has separate powers and responsibilities to ensure checks and balances.
Also read:
- https://primelegalguide.com/25-groundbreaking-constitutional-amendments-and-their-impact/
- https://primelegalguide.com/30-questions-on-how-constitutional-law-shapes-society/
- https://primelegalguide.com/40-frequently-discussed-constitutional-law-cases-in-history/
3. What is the Bill of Rights?
Answer: The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ensuring basic rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and the right to a fair trial.
4. What is the Supremacy Clause?
Answer: The Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) says that the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are superior to state laws, and judges are subject to federal law, even if state laws conflict.
5. What is the separation of powers?
Answer: The separation of powers is the principle that divides the powers of government into three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.
6. What is judicial review?
Answer: Judicial review is the power of the courts to review laws and government actions to determine whether they are constitutional. This power was established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
7. What is the Commerce Clause?
Answer: The Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8) grants Congress the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. It has been interpreted broadly to allow federal regulation in many areas of economic activity.
8. What is the Equal Protection Clause?
Answer: The Equal Protection Clause (14th Amendment) requires states to treat all people equally under the law and prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, or other protected categories.
9. What is the First Amendment?
Answer: The First Amendment guarantees freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. It protects the right to express opinions and beliefs without government interference.
10. What is the Second Amendment?
Answer: The Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. The extent of this right has been debated in various Supreme Court rulings.
11. What does “due process” mean in constitutional law?
Answer: Due process (5th and 14th Amendments) ensures that the government must follow fair procedures before depriving an individual of life, liberty, or property. It guarantees fundamental fairness in legal proceedings.
12. What is the right to privacy under the Constitution?
Answer: Although a right to privacy is not spelled out in the Constitution, it has been understood by the Court to be read into the provisions of the document, especially 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments, in the cases of Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade.
13. What is the Establishment Clause?
Answer: The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibits Congress from making a law respecting any religion, preventing the government from establishing or supporting a religion to separate church from state.
14. What is the Free Exercise Clause?
Answer: The Free Exercise Clause (First Amendment) protects a person’s rights to practice their religion free from government interference.
15. What is habeas corpus?
Answer: Habeas corpus is the right to be brought before a court to challenge the legality of one’s detention or imprisonment. Constitution secures this right, except in case of rebellion or invasion.
16. What is the right to a fair trial?
Answer: The Sixth Amendment provides for a fair trial, including a speedy and public trial, an impartial jury, and the assistance of counsel.
17. What is the “necessary and proper” clause?
Answer: The “necessary and proper” clause (Article I, Section 8) allows Congress to make laws that are necessary and proper for executing its enumerated powers, giving flexibility to Congress to respond to new issues.
18. What is the “exclusionary rule”?
Answer: The exclusionary rule bars the use of evidence that has been illegally seized and searched in criminal trials. It is based on the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.
19. What is “federalism”?
Answer: Federalism is the system of government in which power is divided between a central (federal) government and state governments. The U.S. Constitution establishes federalism, giving certain powers to the federal government and reserving others to the states.
20. What is the “privileges and immunities” clause?
Answer: The Privileges and Immunities Clause (Article IV, Section 2) bars states from discriminating against citizens of another state in favor of its own. Therefore, essentially, there is equal and un-discriminatory rights for all citizens irrespective of the state across which they stand.
These are basic constitutional principles. Awareness of these will provide a right start to understand how U.S. government and law function to protect individual rights and balance power.
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