GOVT Chapter 7: Civil Rights

Civil rights

equality in the eyes of the law

Which of the following statements best describes slavery in the colonial period in the lands that would become the United States of America?

Part of a global colonial slave trade managed by European great powers, especially in their Western Hemisphere colonies.

Abolitionism

a political movement in favor of abolishing slavery

What was the political role of women in the early United States?

Women were systematically excluded from formal politics.

Which of the following is the most accurate way of describing American society in the 18th century?

America was a society of numerous, varying forms of discrimination and inequality.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

The Supreme Court concluded that the U.S. Congress lacked the constitutional authority to bar slavery in the territories. This decision narrowed the scope of national power, while it enhanced that of the states.

In regards to slavery, how did American policy change after the founding?

Policies were developed simultaneously in a way that limited slavery's expansion, but also perpetuated slavery in the south.

Missouri Compromise

The compromise was an 1820 resolution to a standoff over admitting Maine into the Union. Maine was admitted as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and future slave states were locked to the southern portion of the United States.

Black Belt

The Black Belt is actually the shoreline of an inland sea that existed 100 million years ago. The fertility of the soil today is believed to be due to the minerals deposited by coastal marine life at that time.

Reconstruction

A period after the Civil War in which the federal government forced social, economic, and political changes to enable the participation of recently freed slaves in public life.

What was the ultimate result of Reconstruction?

It failed as northern will to enforce the programs faded against durable southern resistance.

De jure

"in law," refers to the situation as described by the prevailing law

de facto

Actually existing or in effect, although not legally required or sanctioned

Jim Crow laws

enforced segregation and effective political disenfranchisement across the South

emancipation

the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions

lynchings

mob murders

What is the appropriate term for the situation as described in the text of a policy or rule, without regard to how it is applied in practice?

De jure

Did the language of the 14th Amendment - that everyone would enjoy the equal protection of the laws - come into practice in the late 19th century?

No, the 14th Amendment was not interpreted to protect African American political rights for about a century.

suffragettes

People who campaigned for women's right to vote in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

How did women gain the de jure right to vote?

Through a constitutional amendment.

Equal Protection Clause

prohibits states from "deny[ing] to any person in its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Plessy v. Ferguson [1896]

Legalized segregation in publicly owned facilities on the basis of "separate but equal."

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Separate could not be equal in questions of public education. True equality required integrated attendance of the same schools.

affirmative action

creating quotas or other such systems to guarantee that the school's admitted class would be racially diverse

busing

transporting students by bus across town to a different school to achieve racial diversity

Imagine a public university admissions program takes the top one hundred best applicants every year, and then takes 20 applicants each from all racial groups that have at least 5% of the state's population. Would this policy be constitutional?

No, because it is effectively a form of prohibited quota.

classification

A classification is when the government classifies people into groups - by race, by sex, or any other feature - and then treats them differently in some policy based on that grouping.

suspect classification

when race is used as a classifier, it merits legal scrutiny

redlining

neighborhood outlines reinforced the specific locations of racial clustering that persist today

strict scrutiny

A Supreme Court test to see if a law denies equal protection because it does not serve a compelling state interest and is not narrowly tailored to achieve that goal

intermediate scrutiny

a test used by the Supreme Court in gender discrimination cases that places the burden of proof partially on the government and partially on the challengers to show that the law in question is unconstitutional

rational-basis scrutiny

law is upheld if it is rationally related to a legitimate gov't purpose. Challenger has the burden of proof to show either that there is no conceivable legitimate purpose or that the law is not rationally related to it

Imagine a state creates a college tuition grant exclusively for male students, in light of declining male enrollment in state colleges. What level of scrutiny would a judge likely apply to this policy?

Intermediate scrutiny

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unlawful for a state to punish homosexual sexual activity.

Obergefell v. Hodges

In Obergefell, the Court held that all states were required by the Constitution to treat same-sex couples equivalently to heterosexual couples for the purpose of marriage.

anti-discrimination laws

Laws prohibit private entities, such as businesses, from discriminating against staff and customers based on a variety of suspect classifications, such as race and sex, but also sexual orientation.

Batson v. Kentucky [1986]

Supreme Court ruled that the use of peremptory challenges specifically to exclude African American jurors violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

prosecutorial discretion

the choice by the prosecutor whether to bring charges

Are the disparities in incarceration limited to gaps between racial groups?

No, there are also different rates by sex, age, wealth, and other attributes.