5 pos 2041

A collection of essential vocabulary flashcards to aid in understanding key concepts related to civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and affirmative action.

Civil Rights

Rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals.

Affirmative Action

Policies that take factors including race, color, religion, sex, or national origin into consideration to benefit an underrepresented group in areas such as education and employment.

Separate-but-Equal Doctrine

Legal doctrine that justified racial segregation by claiming that separate facilities for different races were equal.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting.

Fourteenth Amendment

Amendment to the Constitution that provides equal protection under the law and was key in civil rights cases.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the separate but equal doctrine.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Landmark Supreme Court case that declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

LGBTQ+ Rights

Rights associated with sexual orientation and gender identity, encompassing issues such as same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws.

Women's Suffrage

The right of women to vote, which was achieved in the United States with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Proposed amendment to the Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex.

Voting Rights Restrictions

Legislative measures that limit the ability of specific groups to vote, often seen as discriminatory.

Hate Crimes

Crimes against individuals or groups motivated in whole or part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.

Redlining

The practice of denying services, either directly or through selectively raising prices, to residents of certain areas based on racial or ethnic composition.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman's right to choose to have an abortion under the constitutional right to privacy.

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law, later overturned by Lawrence v. Texas.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Supreme Court decision that invalidated laws prohibiting consensual same-sex sexual activity, stating that such laws violated the right to privacy.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Supreme Court case that ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, thereby legalizing it across the United States.

Suspect Classifications

Legal classifications of groups that are subject to strict scrutiny under the law, particularly in cases of potential discrimination.

The Feminine Mystique

A book by Betty Friedan that is often credited with sparking the second wave of feminism in the United States.

Diversity in Education

Efforts to include students from various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in schools to enhance educational experiences.

Quotas

Numerical limits set to achieve specific representation, often in contexts like college admissions or employment.

Federal Housing Administration

A government agency that insures loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and purchasing.

Redistricting

The process of drawing electoral district boundaries, which can affect representation and voting power.

Compensatory Action

Providing aid to help disadvantaged groups catch up (supported by many).

Rational Basis:

AGE Policy must use reasonable means to achieve a legitimate government goal.

Intermediate Scrutiny

Must serve an important government interest and be substantially related to that interest.

Strict Scrutiny:

Applicable when discrimination is based on race or sex; must serve a compelling government interest, be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and use the least restrictive means.

Reed v. Reed (1971)

Gender discrimination violates the equal protection clause.

Craig v. Boren (1976)

Gender discrimination justified only by an important government objective and a substantial relation to that objective.

Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)

Congress's discretion in drafting men without drafting women.

United States v. Virginia (1996)

Invalidated male-only military school funding.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibits sex discrimination in employment.

Title IX (1972):

Prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Enacted in 1990, this law extended protections to individuals with disabilities, similar to those granted to women and racial minorities.

United States v. Windsor (2013)

Addressed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); a 1996 federal law that denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

The Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional for depriving legally married LGBTQ+ couples of federal benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)

Boy Scouts to exclude LGBTQ+ individuals from its membership based on their right to decide membership criteria.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003):

Invalidated state bans on same-sex sexual conduct.