rights and revolution

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin- and granted the federal government new powers to enforce the law
• July of 1964- LBJ pushes the civil rights act through congress
• MLK was present during the signing
• Delivered the south to the republican party

Voting Rights of 1965

Part of the civil rights act- to insure voting rights for all Americans
• Prohibited literacy tests or discriminatory practices for voting
• Gave federal gov the power to oversee voting registration

Civil Rights Act of 1968

prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status.
• prohibited the following forms of housing discrimination: Refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of their race, color, religion or national origin

24th Amendment

Outlawed the poll tax that had long prevented poor blacks and some whites from voting in the South
• By a vote of 295 to 86

Supreme Court Rulings

historically the most conservative branch of the government;
-in the 1960s, the Warren Court became a guardian of civil liberties;
-vastly expanded the rights enjoyed by all Americans.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the US.
• A slave who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom

Plessy v. Ferguson

Upheld the constitutionality of the separate but equal doctrine
• Lousiana state law: equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.

Korematsu v. Unites States

Japanese American detention was legal as a matter of military necessity, not based on race

Brown v. Board

State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and unconstitutional; overturned separate but equal doctrine

“Red Monday Cases”

• McCarthy era halted progress for a while towards free expression
• The Court moved to rein in the anticommunist crusade.
• The justices overturned the convictions of individuals for advocating the overthrown of the government, failing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and refusing to disclose their political beliefs to state officials.
• The government, Warren declared, could prosecute illegal actions, but not “unorthodoxy or dissent.” (they couldn’t prosecute for having a differing opinion)
• 1969: reaffirmed the right of even the most unpopular viewpoints to First Amendment protection and had dismantled the Cold War loyalty security system.

Espionage and Sedition Act, 1917-1918

Upheld constitutionality. criminalized any “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the U.S. government or military, or any speech intended to “incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty.”
• Said that it didn’t violate the freedom of speech of those who were convicted under its provisions.

Schenk v. United States. 1919

the freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.”
• It’s not protected by the first amendment if it presents a clear danger

New York Times v. Sullivan -

• overturned a libel judgement by an Alabama jury against the nation’s leading newspaper for carrying an advertisement critical of how local officials treated civil rights demonstrators- libel, a published false statement
• first amendment gives the rights of citizens to critize the government
• created the modern consistutional law of freedom of press

Sedition Act of 1798

• For good measure, they declared the [name of act] unconstitutional over a century and a half after it expired
• permitting the deportation, fine, or imprisonment of anyone deemed a threat or publishing “false, scandalous, or malicious writing” against the government of the United States.

Loving v. Virginia

• The court in the 1960’s continued the push toward racial equality, overturning numerous local Jim Crow Laws.
• Declared unconstitutional the laws still on the books in 16 states that probjibited interatracial marriage
• Richard and mildred loving- barred by the Virgina law from marrying so went to Washionton DC; were arrested after their returnand setnece to 5 years in prision
• Option of leaving virgina- after 5 years, wanted to return and sued the federal court- claim that their rights were violted

Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.

Prohibits private racial discrimination in the sale or rental of property.
• Intended to prohibit all discrimination against blacks in the sale and rental of property, including governmental and private discrimination

Miranda v. Arizona

• The Court simultaneously pushed forward the process of imposing upon the states the obligation to respect the liberties outlined in the Bill of Rights.
• required states to abide by the protections against illegal search and seizure, the right of a defendant to a speedy trial, the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and the right of poor persons accused of a crime to receive counsel from publicly supplied attorneys.
• 5-4 ruling: an individual in police custody must be informed of the rights to remain silent and to confer with a lawyer before answering questions and must be told that any statements might be used in court
• Known as “miranda warnings” in standard police practice
• an arrested individual is entitled to rights against self-discrimination and to an attorney under the 5th and 6th Amendments

Mapp v. Ohio

Under the 4th and 14th amendment, illegally seized evidence could not be used in a state criminal trial
• evedience seized unlawfully, without a serch warrant, could not be used in criminal prosecution in state courts

Escobedo v. Illinois

The period between arrest and indictment was a critical stage at which an accused needed the advice of counsel (attorney) perhaps more that any other.
• {name} Sixth Amendment rights had been violated. The Court reasoned that the period between arrest and indictment was a critical stage at which an accused needed the advice of counsel perhaps more than at any other.

Gideon v. Wainwright

Guarantee a right of legal counsel to anyone accused of a crime- even if you can afford one
• ruled unanimously in favor of Gideon, guaranteeing the right to legal counsel for criminal defendants in federal and state courts. Following the decision, Gideon was given another trial with an appointed lawyer and was acquitted of the charges.

Baker v. Carr

• Assumed the power to oversee the fairness of democratic procdures at the state and local levels
• established the principle that districts electing members of state legislatures and congress must be equal in population
• This “one man, one vote” principle overturned apportionment systems in numerous states that had allowed individuals in sparsely inhabited rural areas to enjoy the same representation as residents of populous city districts.
• Federal courts have the authority to enforce the 14th amendment if the state legislatives districts are disproportionately populated.

Maryland’s Constitution

• reinforce the wall of separation between church and state
• unanimously declared unconstitutional a clause in Maryland’s constitution requiring that the public officials declare their belief “in the existence of God.”

Engel v. Vitale

• In the following year, in Engel v. Vital, they decreed that required prayers and Bible readings in public schools also violated the First Amendment.
• JFK- people can pray at home or church
• The most unpopular- 80% disliked

Griswold v. Connecticut –

• Consitututional right to privacy, overturned a state law prohibiting the use of contraceptives
• William o dougla: “The right to be let alone is the beginning of all freedom.”
• Besides the right to marry and raise children w/o government, not many other legal precedents regarding privacy (linked pirvary to the sancityt of marriage)

Roe v. Wade

• Extended access to birth control to unmairred adults and minors, the court could not reverse the secual revolution
• Most controversitial- reated a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
• Declared access to a abortion a fundentmental freedom protected by the vigourous opposition- invalited the laws of no fewer than 46 states

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 2022

The court overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, eliminating the constituianl right to abortion