The Constitution
clause
A single provision within a longer legal text, usually named for what it does: the Commerce Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Take Care Clause.
In full
Constitutional argument is usually clause-level rather than document-level: the question is what one specific sentence authorizes or forbids. The names are conventions rather than part of the text, which is why the same words are sometimes cited under two labels. Knowing which clause is at issue is the fastest way to understand what a case is actually about.
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Browse every term in the glossary, or see the vocabulary in motion in the How government works walkthroughs.
A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.