Civil Rights
“Equal Protection”
14th Amendment (1868)
• Forbids any state to “deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.”
• Sex, race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual
preference
• “Equal protection” clause
• “Privilege and Immunities” clause
Civil Rights History
African Americans
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Dred Scott Case 1857
Jim Crow Laws – segregated community
de jure (by law) and de facto (by fact; custom; tradition))
Civil Rights Act of 1875 & KKK Act – Radical
Reconstruction Era legislation
Plessy v. Ferguson – separate but equal
NAACP – 20th century push for rights – protest lynching
Brown v. Board of Education – “separate but equal”
unconstitutional
Civil Rights Act of 1964, 24th Amendment (poll tax), Voting
Rights Act 1965
24th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of
1964 &
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Voting (Barred unequal application of voter registration
requirements)
• 24th amendment – no poll taxes
• CRA1964 - Public accommodation (Barred discrimination) Heart
of Atlanta Motel SCOTUS case
• Schools (Gov. can force desegregation though litigation/lawsuits)
• Employment (Affirmative Action programs developed)
• Federal Funds (federal funding pulled for non-compliance)
• VRA 1965 - prove that a proposed voting change does not have
the purpose or the effect of discriminating based on race or color.
• In some cases - must also show that the proposed change does
not have the purpose or effect of discriminating against a
"language minority group." (literacy tests banned)
Women and Equal
Rights
• “Republican Motherhood” - raising your sons to be good
citizens and daughters to be good wives and mothers
• Seneca Falls Convention – 1848 – beginning of women’s
suffrage movement – split into 2 factions AWSA and
NWSA
• “Cult of Domesticity” – women’s sphere of home and
hearth in the Victorian Era
• Muller v. Oregon (1908) – 10 hour work day limit for
women legal to “protect their health”
• Should women vote because they are equal to men or
better than men? (Equality vs. Moral guardian)
• Re-merged in the 1890’s into NAWSA - 19th Amendment
– 1920 – Women vote
Women and Equal
Rights
• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 1972
– “Equality of rights under the law shall not be
denied or abridged by the US or any State on
account of sex.” – did not pass because…
• Rostker v. Goldberg (1981) – Court upheld the
requirement men to register but not women for draft,
ended ERA push
• Roe v. Wade (1973) – women’s freedom to choose
abortion based upon the zone of privacy over one’s
own body and one’s relationship with their physician
Women and Equal
Rights
• Civil Rights Act (1964)
• Title VII – prohibits gender discrimination in employment,
extended to sexual harassment
• Comparable worth – “equal pay for equal work”
• Title IX – provide equal funding for all programs that
receive federal funding
• 1970s – “reasonableness standard” – would a reasonable
person perceive sexual harassment to have taken place
• Two types – quid pro quo and hostile environment
Civil Rights History
Latino/Latina Rights
• 37 million in US (about 10 million in 1980)
• Mexico – 15million-rights issues include
Bilingual education programs, immigration
• Puerto Rico – 2.7 million-PR is a
commonwealth of US, citizens can move
freely back and forth, not represented in
Congress, don’t have to pay federal tax
Civil Rights History
• Cuba
• 1960s, many fled communist takeover by Castro
• 1980’s Mariel boatlift – Castro let prisoners and the
mentally ill come to the US
• 1990’s - Clinton/Castro “wet foot, dry foot” policy
• Central and South America
• political trouble is driving people to US, face similar
bilingual and immigration issues
• 1970’s & 80’s - “Dirty Wars” in Argentina, Chile,
Nicaragua, El Salvador (Tens of thousands
“disappeared” by right wing military juntas)
Civil Rights History
Asian American
• 8 million in US, 40% of immigrants
• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 – lasted through WWII
• WWII – Japanese racism – internment
• Korematsu v. US (1944)
• 1980s reparations for internment
• George Takei’s new Broadway production “Allegiance” is about his
incarceration in a WW2 camp
• Refugees from the Korean and Vietnam Wars also resulted in
migrations to the US
• Pacific Islanders from Guam and Samoa also can travel freely like
PR citizens
• Many Filipinos have come to the US – SpAm War 1898 –
Independence in 1946
Civil Rights History
Native Americans
• Cherokee cases 1830’s and 40’s = Trail of Tears
• 2 million people live on “reservations” today
• Push for more sovereignty on their land
– Ex. – gambling casino operation rights
• Art. 1, Sec. 8 – commerce clause give Congress right to
regulate Indian tribes
• AIM – American Indian Movement 1970’s
Rights for Older
Americans
• Age discrimination illegal
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act raised the
general compulsory retirement age to 70
• AARP – interest group – large influence
• “Means testing” social security and Medicare – if you
retire with a sizeable income, should you have to
forfeit collecting your SS and Med. ? Money you
already paid in the system?
• Do you have the “means” to support yourself?
Rights for Disabled
Americans
• 17% of Americans have a disability
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - illegal to
discriminate based on disability
• Education for All Handicapped Children
Act of 1975 – gave all handicapped
children free education
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 –
protect disabled rights – SC has
somewhat limited this act
LGBT Rights
• Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) – law forbidding homosexuality
was constitutional
• 1993 – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – military can’t ask; you can’t
be “out” or public with your homosexuality
• Lawrence v. Texas (2003) – law against homosexual action
violated due process of 14th Amendment – “life, liberty, and
property”
• Windsor v. US (2013) – DOMA section 3 defined “spouse”
as male/female; unconstitutional; Windsor sought to be
exempt from inheritance tax after her partner’s death –
violates 5th Due process and 14th Equal Protection – law has
no legitimate purpose in interfering with state decisions on
marriage
Reverse Discrimination
• Equality of opportunity vs. equality of results – Do civil
rights require the absence of discrimination OR require
racial balance?
• University of California v. Bakke 1978 – strict quotas (%)
unconstitutional, but race can be a criteria for admission
to a public institution
• Richmond v. Croson 1989 – city of Richmond could not
guarantee that 30% of companies that received
subcontracts were owned by minorities
• Gratz and Grutter cases from University of Michigan
(AffAct in undergrad admissions can begin to go; not in
law school admissions – still a need for diversity in
society’s upper levels of academia)
Civil Rights summary
• Constant pursuit of equality
• Civil Rights for minority groups will
constantly be changing
• EVERYONE will be a part of some
minority group during their lifetime