Advanced Placement American Government and Politics: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Study Notes
Overview
Host: Jeff Weber
Topic: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Context: Final lecture for the course on Advanced Placement American Government and Politics
Definitions
Civil Liberties
Definition: Fundamental rights and freedoms that protect individuals from government abuse.
Examples:
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom of Press
- Freedom of Assembly
- Freedom of Petition
- Freedom of Religion
Civil Rights
Definition: Rights that protect individuals from unequal treatment based on certain protected characteristics.
Protected Characteristics: Race, gender, disability, etc.
Role: Policies created by the government to prevent discrimination.
Equal Protection Clause
Definition: Part of the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees equal protection under the law to all American citizens.
Government's Role: Can classify or draw distinctions between groups, but cannot discriminate unreasonably.
Enforcement: Historically not enforced immediately after the Civil War.
Civil War Amendments
Thirteenth Amendment: Abolished slavery.
Fourteenth Amendment: Provided equal protection under the law.
Fifteenth Amendment: Granted African American men the right to vote.
Tests Under the Equal Protection Clause
Rational Basis Test
Definition: A legal standard applied by courts to determine if a law or policy is reasonably related to a legitimate government interest.
Strict Scrutiny Test
Definition: The highest standard of review used by courts to evaluate laws that infringe on fundamental rights or involve suspect classifications, such as race.
Outcome: Laws that are judged under this test are often found unconstitutional due to their discriminatory nature.
Supreme Court Classifications
Race
Classification: Inherently suspect.
Outcome: Almost always unconstitutional to discriminate based on race.
Historical Case: Brown v. Board of Education set a precedent against racial segregation.
Gender
Classification: Intermediate standard.
Outcome: Often found unconstitutional, but courts require a significant justification for gender distinctions.
Other Classifications (e.g., age, wealth, disability)
Classification: Must demonstrate reasonableness to be considered constitutional.
Example: Laws denying certain positions (like military service) to individuals who cannot meet specific requirements may be constitutional under this test.
Historical Context
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Background: Supreme Court ruling stating that slaves were property with no legal rights.
Chief Justice: Roger Taney.
Significance: Set a troubling precedent about the legal status of African Americans.
Jim Crow Era
Definition: A period of racial segregation laws re-imposing discriminatory practices against African Americans after the Civil War.
Concept: Known as the "separate but equal" era, rooted in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
Key Supreme Court Cases
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Ruling: Established the legality of racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal."
Impact: Allowed segregation to persist for nearly a century, reinforcing discriminatory practices.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Ruling: Declared that segregation in public schools was inherently unequal, thus unconstitutional.
Citation: Violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.
Outcome: Launched a movement for desegregation across the U.S.
Second Brown Decision (1955)
Ruling: Required immediate compliance with the desegregation order and emphasized the need for "all deliberate speed."
Context: Addressed concerns that schools were slow to implement changes post-Brown decision.
Legislative Actions
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Significance: Made discrimination by private businesses and state/local governments illegal.
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Significance: Prohibited racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals.
Voting Rights
Fifteenth Amendment
Provision: Granted the right to vote to all men, regardless of race, after the Civil War.
Context: Voting rights for women were not addressed until the Nineteenth Amendment.
Methods to Deny Voting Rights
Poll Tax: Fee charged to vote, which many African Americans could not afford.
Literacy Tests: Required reading abilities; many African Americans were not educated.
Grandfather Clause: Allowed only those whose grandfathers could vote before the Civil War to vote, effectively disenfranchising African Americans.
Voting Rights Legislation
Twenty-fourth Amendment: Prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
Harper v. Virginia Board of Education: Ruled poll taxes illegal in state elections.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Ended racial discrimination in voting practices.
Twenty-sixth Amendment: Lowered voting age from 21 to 18.
Gender Classification
Reed v. Reed (1972)
Ruling: Administrators of estates cannot discriminate based on sex.
Nineteenth Amendment
Provision: Prohibits denial of right to vote based on sex.
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Proposed in 1923, aimed to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex, but ultimately failed to ratify.
Impact: Legal progress toward gender equality has arisen through federal court rulings rather than an amendment.
Women’s Rights Legislation
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Banned gender discrimination in the workplace.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
Prevented discrimination based on pregnancy in employment.
Title IX (1972)
Prohibits gender discrimination in federally funded education programs, particularly affecting sports.
Affirmative Action
Definition: Policies aiming to promote the advancement of historically disadvantaged groups.
Intended Purpose: To rectify systemic discrimination rather than provide unearned advantages.
Controversy: Recent debates and scaling back of affirmative action policies in various states.
Quotas vs. Affirmative Action
Quotas: Require specific numbers or percentages of certain groups in employment or educational settings.
Relationship: Some affirmative action programs may utilize quotas, especially where past discrimination is evident.