Civil Rights

civil rights - protects groups and individuals from discrim

the primary clause used to extend civil rights - the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment

    it altered the balance of power between state and nat gov by protecting members of gro\ps from discrim by states, states are compelled to follow fed requirements


AFRICAN AMERICANS AND SLAVERY IN THE US

post civil war amendments

  • 13th amendment

    • Abolished slavery, except for punishment for crime

  • 14th amendment

    • defines citizenship as birthright citizenship, overturns Dred Scott decision

  • 15th amendment

    • extends suffrage to african americans

civil rights acts of 1865 and 1875

  • series of laws passed to enforce 13-15 amendments to strengthen them

    • were found unconst by scotus

    • were found const 100 years later

      • PEOPLE PUSHED TO CHANGE POLICY

limitations on civil rights

  • Plessy v. Ferguson - separate but equal

    • system of segregation supported by jim crow laws

      • separate was the rule but equal was never enforced

voting barriers

  • White primaries

    • forbid black people from voting in primary elections

  • literacy tests

    • black people were given significantly harder tests than white people

    • required to vote

  • poll taxes

    • fixed tax for voter registration

  • grandfather clause

    • exempt from poll tax and literacy tests if your grandpa could vote prior to 1865

alternate forms of political participation for african americans

  • demonstrations/civil disobedience

  • organized interest group activity (NAACP)

  • courts/litigation

  • boycotts

  • ALL SERVED AS A LINKAGE MECHANISM. HOW AND WHY DID THEY CHANGE POLICY?

    • linkage mechanism-structures that connect citizens to the government to communicate

Brown v. BOE - end of segregation.

    Brown v. BOE II


CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

civil rights act 1964

  • no discrim for voter registration

  • NO DISCRIM IN PUBLIC ACCOMODATIONS E.G. HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS WHOSE OPERATIONS AFFECT INTERSTATE COMMERCE

  • banned discrim in all federally funded programs

  • authorized fed gov to sue to desegregate public schools and facilities

  • expanded power and life of Civil Rights Commission

  • provided withholding of federal funds from programs administered in a discriminatory manner

  • equal opportunity in employment

civil rights act 1968

  • expands 64’ act

    • bans discrim in most housing (sale, rental, and housing) , penalties for those trying to intefere with individual civil rights

    • added enforcement provisions against discrim in lending

voting rights act 1965

  • outlawed discrim voter registration tests

  • required - fed voter registration and fed administered voting procedures in any area/state that discrim electorally

  • states with a history of electoral discrim were required to obtain fed approval before changing voting laws + procedures (recently found to be unconst → many states now require ID)

  • limits the advance voter reg period to 30 days before a prez election

  • prohibits intimidation and coercion of voters

  • forbids drawing districts with intention of diluting concentration and thus political power of minority voters

effect of voting rights act

  • increase number of black voters and other minority voters that are both registered and voting

1975 voting rights act renewal

  • now provided states must make bilingual ballots and voting materials available in counties that were 5 percent or more of population speaks language other than english


24TH AMENDMENT

  • eliminated poll taxes

  • led to increase in minority voting

  • black Americans elected to office growing slowly


BARRIES THAT EFFECT MINORITIES

  • incumbency advantage

  • gerrymandered districts

    • gerrymandered districts

    • prejudice, racism, sexism

    • electoral resources

    • electoral qualifications

    • single member districts/winner take all

  • barries for voters

    • ID requirements

    • english only ballots

    • felony disenfranchisement

    • purging voter rolls

    • voter intimidation


INTEGRATION AND BUSING

defacto segregation - stems from past social and economic conditions and residential social patterns

de jure - occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies

Parents Involved v. Seattle School District

  • SC held that using race to determine which schools students could attend violated 14th amendment

  • white children could not be denied admission to schools designed to have racially balanced schools


SCOTUS REVIEW OF DISCRIMINATION CASES

RACE - Strict Scrutiny Standard (SS NC)

  • law must be narrowly tailored to meet a compelling gov interest

    • basically means that law must have a really good reason to take race into account

GENDER

  • similar, but a little easier to get laws that discriminate based on gender to be constitutional due to biological differences


AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

  • attempt to level playing field after 100s of years of discrimination


GEDNER BASED DISCRIM

Title VII - Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • prohibits discrim in employment

Title VIII

  • prohibition of gender discrim extends to sexual harassment in the workplace

  • employers must take care to prevent and correct any kind of that behavior

Equal Pay Act

Title IX of Education Amendments

  • bans sex discrim at all levels and all aspects of education

  • known for increasing access to sports

  • most significance is equalizing admissions to professional programs, financial aid, and educational facilities

Pregnancy Discrim Act

Increasing representatives but not represented of general population


SCOTUS and Gender based claims

  • middle level/intermediate scrutiny review

  • SCOTUS held that police and firefighting units cannot establish arbitrary rules such as height and weight requirements that discriminate against women

  • case - weight restrictions for prison guard violated EP clause


IMMIGRATION, LATINOS AND CIVIL RIGHTS

14th EP clause applies to all racial groups

  • Hernandez v. Texas

    • maintained white jury was unfair, he was found guilty of murder, the court has not had a person of mexican descent in a long time

    • SCOTUS decided that an all white jury is not impartial, cannot be discrim from jury service based on ethnciity/race


AGE DISCRIMINATION

  • Prohibits unless if age is a bona fide requirement necessary for the job

  • covers individuals over 40


DISABILITIES

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

  • all public buildings and services must be accessible

  • requires handrails, ramps, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, etc.

  • requires employers to reasonably accommodate needs of persons with disabilities unless causing undue hardship


THE RIGHTS AND STATUS OF LGBTQ

Supreme Court Cases


LGBTQ in the military

  • Clinton - Don’t Ask Don’t tell

    • Repealed by Obama in 2011


1996 DOMA and SCOTUS Cases

DOMA - Defense of Marriage Act

  • bans federal recognition of gay couples and allowed state govs to ignore same sex marriage performed in other states

    • Lawrence v. Texas - Court held laws against sodomy violated due process clause of 14th amendment

  • US v. Windsor - Scotus held DOMA wrote inequality into fed law, violating the 5th amendment’s protections of equal liberty

    • Obergefell v. Hodges - SCOTUS held denying same sex couples right to marry violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment

      • More than 1100 fed regulations, rights, and laws relate or are affected by martial status e.g. privilege to not testify against spouse, eligibility for compensation programs such as the 9/11 fund