Glossary

  • Solicitor

    a government legal professional who appears in court proceedings on behalf of the government

  • Southern Manifesto

    A document signed in 1956 by the overwhelming majority of southern congressmen and senators that condemned the decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

  • Sovereign Power

    Dominant power or authority.

  • Sovereignty

    The authority of a state to govern itself.

  • speculation

    Purchasing land for future sale in hopes it will increase in value.

  • States’ rights

    Emphasizes the power of individual states over a stronger centralized government.

  • Stay of Execution

    a judicial order delaying a lower court order, for example, a death sentence.

  • Stenographer

    a person who transcribes a conversation in real time using shorthand writing or a stenograph machine

  • Strict constructionist

    one who believes that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the literal meaning of its language at the time of passage

  • Strike

    an organized refusal to work