Transcript Civil Rights

Civil Rights
Equal Protection Under the Law

Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished.
◦ 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
◦ 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation

Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights.
◦ 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote.
◦ 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.
The Civil War Amendments

All laws discriminate because they include
certain people, but not others
◦ People have looked to the government to help
answer what is fair and to provide a basic
American principle of equality of opportunity to
all people
◦ The purpose of civil rights principles is to use
government to give equality a more
substantive meaning
◦ People, however, are less committed to equality
of outcome, but some groups do look for that
help
Discrimination law
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The Supreme Court was not
ready for enforcing the civil
rights implied in the 14th
Amendment (of course many of
the Court members were state
rights’ appointees
◦ The Court strikes down the
Civil Rights Act of 1875
because the law dealt with
private businesses and the
14th Amendment applied to
public officials and facilities
◦ Justice Harlan dissented
arguing this decision would
allow for wide spread
segregation and take away
rights, whites took for granted
Post Civil War
Homer Plessy (who was 1/8th
black) refused to sit in the
blacks only section of train and
fined $25
 The Court ruled that “although
the 14th Amendment was
supposed to enforce the
equality of the two races
before the law, it could not
have intended to abolish
distinction based on color, or to
enforce…a commingling of the
two races upon terms
unsatisfactory to either”
 Justice Harlan dissented,
writing “The Constitution is
color-blind” and predicted the
development of the Jim Crow
laws

Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
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The outcome of Plessy
was the creation of the
Jim Crow laws and the
NAACP
The NAACP decides the
only way to beat Plessy
was through the Courts
by getting the law on
their side
◦ NAACP greatly helped by
Charles Hamilton Houston
who was head of the
NAACP legal department
for 20 years, Dean of
Howard Law School and
trained many of the civil
rights lawyers of the
1960s, including Thurgood
Marshall
Jim Crow
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Legal team wins a 1938 case declaring a University of
Missouri rule unconstitutional to pay for black students
to attend law school out of state
In 1950, the Supreme Court ruled that the UT Negro
Law School was unconstitutional because it isn’t just the
facilities that make a good education
Also in 1950, the Court ruled in the McLaurin case that
his treatment at the University of Oklahoma was
unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause
of the 14th Amendment
In several southern states, NAACP successfully fights for
equal pay of Negro teachers to their white counterparts
All of these victories build precedent for the Brown case
and forced the Court to wonder if any segregated facility
could be equal
The Road to Brown
Court ruled 9-0 that the states did not have the power to use race as
a criterion for discrimination
 Chief Justice Warren writes: “To separate [children] solely because of
their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the
community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely
ever to be undone.”
 This case signals that the Courts would using the strict scrutiny test
more forcefully placing the burden of proof on the government to
show why the law in question is constitutional
 Court also calls for a panel to meet in 1955 at which time the Court
declares that schools must desegregate with “all deliberate speed”

Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)
Reaction
•South
refused to
desegregate except on own
terms
•Also, difficult to desegregate
• Brown case ended de
jure (by law)
segregation, but could
not end de facto such as
housing settlements
(although facilitated by
de jure segregation)
•Ten years after decision, less
than 1% of all schools were
integrated and the court was
unable to force schools to
comply
•The Brown case becomes the
main starting point of the
Civil Rights Movement which
ends with the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Act attacked several areas of discrimination
◦ Public accommodations-all public places can not discriminate
because of race and federal government given authority to
file lawsuits and attack those place that do
 This part of Act still creates controversy, where is the
governments authority to pass such legislation (hint:
interstate commerce, see Heart of Atlanta case)
◦ School desegregation-authorizes the Justice Department to
implement court orders to integrate schools or the executive
can withhold federal grants
◦ Allowed for the busing of students to help in integration, but
Court has recently backed off of this method
◦ Title VII outlawed all job discrimination based on race and
sex (this was added as joke, but passed) and created the
EEOC and allows government to bring suits against
companies
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was passed to
provide education and training to help combat poverty
 The 24th Amendment was ratified abolishing poll taxes
 Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed that barred literacy
tests for voting and helped encourage equal voter
participation; protecting voter rights has been one of
the most effective of all the civil rights legislation
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◦ Included preclearance, section V
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Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 prohibiting
discrimination in the sale and rental of housing
Affirmative Action-policies seeking to redress past
injustices against specified groups by making special
efforts to provide members of these groups equal
opportunities
More Civil Rights victories

What is the
appropriate level of
Affirmative Action?
◦ Where is the line drawn
between qualification
vs. minority preference?

In University of
California v. Bakke
(1978) the Supreme
Court ruled that while
schools should have a
diverse student body,
race can not be the
sole criteria to
admission
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) the Court
ruled that the admissions practice of
giving 20 points (1/5 the points
needed for admission) to
underrepresented groups violated
the 14th Amendment and was
unconstitutional, but they did not
rule against affirmative action itself
 Meredith v. Jefferson County Board
of Education (2007) the Court ruled
that a public school district’s plan to
integrate its by establishing a
“quota” system in schools that
required the student body to have no
less than 15% to no more than 50%
minority students violated the equal
protection of the Constitution. Chief
Justice John Roberts wrote in the
plurality opinion that "The way to
stop discrimination on the basis of
race is to stop discriminating on the
basis of race."
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Debate over Affirmative Action
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Conservative
◦ American rights are
individual rights and
affirmative action
concerns itself with
groups rights
◦ Quota systems violate
the equal protection
clause of the Constitution
◦ They follow the adage
that the “constitution is
color-blind”
◦ Affirmative Action creates
reverse discrimination
and it is not the
governments job to solve
societies problems
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Liberal
◦ They agree our rights are
individual, but when a
group is systematically
deprived access to
something then
government must step in
protect those rights
◦ They also agree that
some rights may get
pushed aside for the
group, but the overall
goal is the important
thing
◦ Some liberals do agree
that affirmative action is
undemocratic and hasn’t
achieved its intended
goal
Two sides of Affirmative Action
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Ricci v. Stefano
(2009)
◦ Does a city violate
Title VII of Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the
equal protection clause
when a valid civil
service exam
unintentionally prevent
the promotion of
minority candidates?
◦ Sotomayor had
decided in favor of the
city at the appeals
level
Recent cases

A 5-4 Court ruled that
there is no evidence
to show that the tests
were flawed and that
fear of litigation
cannot justify an
employer’s reliance on
race to the detriment
of individuals who
passed the exams and
qualified for
promotions
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Shelby County v.
Holder (2013)
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◦ In a 5-4 decision,
Court strikes down
Section 4 and
effectively Section 5
of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965
Recent Decisions
Fisher v. University
of Texas at Austin
(2013)
◦ A 7-1 decision that
sends the case back
to the Appeals Court
because they didn’t
apply strict scrutiny
test
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened the door
for other minority groups to fight against
discrimination
◦ Title VII spawned the women's movement along
with the establishment of NOW, WEAL and the
publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique
◦ Feminist activities also pushed for and Equal
Rights Amendment in 1972, but by 1982 the
proposal had come 3 states short of the 38
needed for ratification
Rights of Others:
Women

The women’s movement has been helped
by the Equal Pay Act which prohibits
paying wages based on gender-”equal
pay for equal work”
◦ Lilly Ledbetter Paycheck Fairness Act (2009)
closes loopholes from 1963 act and overturns
Supreme Court decision requiring people 180
days to file a claim of wage discrimination from
first paycheck; puts burden on employer to
explain discrimination is not based on sex
Women continued
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Consider this:
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Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 prohibits gender
discrimination in education and requires equal funding
and opportunities for athletic programs or risk losing
federal funding, as a result many universities have
had to cut successful men’s programs to comply with
Title IX lawsuits
◦ In this 1960s, a women had to have better grades than men
to get into most colleges
◦ At the University of Virginia, 21,000 females were denied
admission, but not a single man
◦ 2 women a year accepted into Cornell veterinary school
◦ In 1975, University of Michigan had a $1.4 million budget
for all athletics, nothing went to women’s sports…the girls
sold apples at football games and carpooled to events,
women gymnasts reused tape the men’s team saved for
them
Women’s rights continued
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964
barred discrimination base on
race, but not on language
which has hurt this group from
full acceptance
◦ Lau v. Nichols (1974), however,
mandated that schools must
provide ESL classes for those not
English proficient
◦ Voting Rights of 1970 also helped
by requiring bilingual ballots or
oral assistance to voting
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Cesar Chavez formed the
National Farm Workers
Association to fight for better
pay and worker conditions
Some feel that Asian
Americans don’t need help
because they have assimilated
well into American society and
are one of the most successful
minority groups in the country
Latinos and Asian Americans

Make up 1% of the American
population
◦ In recent years Native
American groups have tried to
get what the government has
promised them, primarily
money (the Department of
Interior was sued for $10 billion
in “lost” revenues
As a group they have the
highest rates of
unemployment, lowest life
expectancy and highest rate
of alcoholism
 Casinos help some tribes,
but not all
 One problem is this group is
too small and spread out to
exert political pressure
 After Wounded Knee, Lakota
awarded $105 million dollars
by Supreme Court in 1980,
they refused money for land
instead—today the offer is
$830 million
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Native
Americans
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Rehabilitation Act of 1973
makes it illegal for
discriminating against
those with disabilities,
which led to the founding
of the Disability Rights
Education and Defense
Fund
Americans with
Disabilities Act in 1990
guarantees equal
employment rights and
access to public
businesses for the
disabled
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1967 federal Age
Discrimination in
Employment Act makes
discrimination in
workplace illegal, but not
in hiring
65 no longer means
retirement, and many
Americans have to work
to still make ends meet
Disabled and Aged Americans