Cummings v. Missouri

Glossary

• bill of attainder a legislative act that declares a person or group of persons guilty of a crime without benefit of a trial
• countenanced tolerated
• emoluments earnings and benefits from employment
• estates generally property, especially land; here, a figure of speech suggesting accumulation of wealth
• ex post facto law retroactive law that imposes a punishment for acts not illegal at the time they were committed
• expurgatory serving to cleanse or purify something that is offensive
• judicial magistracy the concept of judges and courts acting as magistrates, thus improperly assuming the powers of the executive branch of government
• Mr. Chief Justice Marshall John Marshall (1755–1835), chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death