9 Civil Rights Legislation and Voting Rights

These flashcards cover the key concepts, laws, and judicial cases related to civil rights legislation and voting rights. They provide definitions and context for understanding critical aspects of American civil rights history.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation aimed at outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation intended to eliminate barriers to voting for African Americans and ensure fair electoral practices.

Federalism

The distribution of power between a central government and its political units; in the context of the Voting Rights Act, it involves federal oversight of state election practices.

Voting Registrars

Officials responsible for managing voter registration and elections at the local level.

Federal Examiners

Federal officials designated to oversee and manage local voting processes, particularly where discrimination has occurred.

Literacy Tests

Requirements that voters demonstrate reading or writing skills, often used to disenfranchise minorities.

Poll Taxes

Fees charged to voters as a prerequisite for voting, deemed discriminatory and abolished by the 24th Amendment.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

A provision that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Strict Scrutiny Standard

A legal doctrine that requires laws making certain classifications to serve a compelling state interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.

Intermediate Scrutiny

A legal standard applied to laws that discriminate based on sex; requires that the law serves an important government interest and is substantially related to that interest.

Rational Basis Test

The lowest level of scrutiny applied by courts to evaluate laws that treat individuals differently; the law must be rationally related to a legitimate government interest.

Reed v. Reed (1971)

A Supreme Court case that struck down an Idaho law giving preference to men over women as executors of wills, establishing that arbitrary sex-based distinctions are unconstitutional.

Craig v. Boren (1976)

A Supreme Court case that created the intermediate scrutiny standard, ruling that a law differentiating between the legal drinking ages for men and women was unconstitutional.