Equality and Civil Rights
 Civil
liberties: freedoms guaranteed to the
individual requiring federal restraint
 Tension:
freedom & order
 Civil
rights: powers & privileges that are
guaranteed by government to individuals in
groups and which cannot be taken away by
government or any other source
 Tension:
equality & freedom
Equality and Civil Rights
 Origins
of concern lay in pattern of discrimination
against African Americans, even after 13th-15th
Amendments
 We discriminate all of the time, but we hope the
discrimination is based on appropriate criteria rather
than on race, sex, ethnic origin, etc.
Overview of Race Discrimination
 Declaration
of Independence: We hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…
 Constitution contained 3 references to slavery:
 Article
I, Sect. 2: Representatives and direct taxes shall
be…determined by adding…3/5ths of all other persons
 Article I, Sect. 9: The migration and importation of
persons….shall not be prohibited prior to the year 1808,
but a tax or duty may be imposed…
 Article III, Sect. 2: No person held to service or labor in
one state…be discharged from such service or labor
Overview of Race Discrimination
 1861-1865:Civil War
fought in part over slavery
 1865: 13th Amendment prohibited slavery
 1868: 14th Amendment extends citizenship to all
persons born or naturalized in U.S.; no state shall
deprive any person of life, liberty or property
without due process of law...nor deny to any
person ... equal protection of the laws
 1870:15th Amendment extends voting rights to
all citizens and prohibits denial on basis of race,
color, or prior condition of servitude
Overview of Race Discrimination
 13th-15th Amendments
authorized Congress to
enforce amendments with legislation
 1875: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act
prohibiting discrimination in public places (inns,
trains, etc.)
 1876 Supreme Court ruled that freedom of
assembly was not protected by 14th Amend. and
that 15th Amend. did not guarantee vote (only
stipulated reasons that could not be used to deny
the vote)
Overview of Race Discrimination
 1876:
Presidential election between Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J.
Tilden was contested; Southern Democrats
conceded in exchange for removal of federal
troops from southern states
 Hayes kept promise and removed troops; social
patterns of segregation restored
 1877 Georgia introduced the poll tax
Overview of Race Discrimination

1883: Supreme Court found Civil Rights Act
unconstitutional; Congress could only correct state
laws that discriminated against blacks
 Private
 1896:
associations are off limits (set own rules)
Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court upheld
state laws imposing racial segregation in public
facilities and established the doctrine of separate
but equal
 1899: separate but equal doctrine applied to public
schools
Overview of Race Discrimination
1909: W.E. B. DuBois & others founded NAACP
 1938: Supreme Court ruled that Lloyd Gaines had
to be admitted to Missouri’s (all white) law school
as a comparable school for blacks did not exist
 1947: President Truman ordered desegregation of
the armed services
 1954: Brown v. Bd. of Education Supreme Court
ruled that separate but equal had no place in
education; attacked principle at core of equal
protection clause

Overview of Race Discrimination
1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat in
Montgomery, Alabama and city boycott organized
 1957: Martin Luther King, Jr. organizes So.
Christian Leadership Conference & advocates
civil disobedience
 1963: King delivers “I have a dream” speech in
Washington, D.C.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King

Overview of Race Discrimination
 1964
Congress passed Civil Rights Act
 Private
lodgings, restaurants, sports arenas, etc.
cannot discriminate on the basis of race
 Employers of 15 or more people cannot
discriminate on the basis of race (applied to
state and local governments in 1972)
Overview of Race Discrimination
 1964:
Civil Rights Act challenged; Supreme Court
rules in Katzenbach v. McClung that commerce
clause enables Congress to regulate interstate
commerce and, thus, to make racial discrimination
illegal in any business participating in commerce
 1964: 24th Amendment banned poll taxes
 1965: President Johnson issues Executive Order
11246 required affirmative action by government
contractors to redress discrimination
Overview of Race Discrimination
 1968:
Fair Housing Act banned discrimination in
housing
 1968: Riots broke out in 168 cities protesting King
assassination
Overview of Race Discrimination
1969: Supreme Court orders desegregation of
public schools immediately
 1971: Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Cnty
Schools Supreme Court identifies remedies such
as busing, racial quotas, pairing school districts to
achieve integration & distinguishes between de
jure and de facto segregation

Segregation
 De
Jure segregation
 Comes
about because of legislation or court
decisions (acts of government)
 De
Facto segregation
 Comes
about from different social or economic
circumstances
Affirmative Action
 Establishes
remedies to overcome past
discrimination
 Raises
question whether outcome is related to
opportunity
 Raises question whether to focus on historical
de jure segregation only
 Opponents
charge Reverse Discrimination
 Court has equivocated as public opinion
shifts
Equality and Civil Rights
 Equality
of Opportunity: each person has the same
opportunity to succeed in life
 Equality of Outcome: government to design policies
to redistribute wealth and status so that economic
and social equality is achieved
 Equality of outcome was originally conceived to be
a temporary adjustment to compensate for historical
pattern of discrimination against African Americans
Overview of Race Discrimination
1974: Milliken v. Bradley limits busing to school
districts with history of discrimination
 1976: Regents of U. C. Davis v. Bakke Supreme
Court considered reverse discrimination and found
racial quotas unconstitutional but allowed race to
be one of several factors in admission
 1979 and 1980: Affirmative Action plans in
employment upheld; later restricted to narrow area
where history of discrimination proven

Overview of Race Discrimination
1995: Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena placed
restriction on affirmative action in highway
contracts
 1996: California passed Proposition 209
prohibiting affirmative action in employment and
college admissions throughout the state

Equal Protection of the law
 Supreme
Court has established different
standards for evaluating discrimination in
state laws
 Rational
basis (lowest level)
 Heightened scrutiny (middle level; gender)
 Strict scrutiny (suspect classes including race,
ethnic origin, religion)
Hispanics
1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended
Mexican-American War and guaranteed
citizenship and land rights to Mexican-Americans
 Social practices ignored treaty despite
participation of Hispanics in military efforts
 Mexican American Legal Defense (MALDEF) &
Cesar Chavez are examples of civil rights efforts
 Focus has been on legislative districts and gaining
representation in state legislatures & Congress

Native Americans
 Historically,
Native Americans were concentrated in
tribes with which the Federal Government had
treaties; treaties complex but also abrogated
 U.S. government accused of genocide--deliberate
elimination of a population
 Native Americans were not granted U.S.citizenship
until 1924
 Native Americans Rights Fund (1970) has sought
recognition of tribes and fishing, land & other rights-may conflict with water rights in California
Disabled Americans

1990: Americans with Disability Act requires
access to public buildings and make other
accommodations in employment. Act covers
physical and mental disabilities as well as AIDS
Gays and Lesbians
Rights are largely determined by state laws
 U.S. Supreme Court has been reluctant to interfere

 Bowers
v. Hardwick (1986) Supreme Court upheld
Georgia statute prohibiting sodomy, even in privacy of
one’s own home

Hawaii Supreme Court (1993) found that equal
protection of the laws extended to homosexual
marriages although constitution amended in 1998
Gays and Lesbians

Congress (1996) passed Defense of Marriage Act
in response to Hawaii Supreme Court decision
 Article
IV, Sect. 1 of U.S. Constitution stipulates: Full
faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
state.
 Congress’s action exempted homosexual marriages…

Romer v. Evans (1996) found Colorado’s law
invalidating local ordinances supporting
homosexuals unconstitutional
Women’s Movement
1908: Supreme Court upholds Oregon law limiting
number of hours women can work
 1920: 19th Amendment passed allowing women to
vote
 1923: Equal Rights Amendment proposed
 1963: Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for equal
work, where equal work is defined as same job

Women’s Movement
1964: Title VII of Civil Rights Act prohibits
discrimination in employment on basis of race,
color, religion, national origin and sex
 1972: ERA passes Congress
 1982: ERA dies, lacking ratification of 3 states

race: suspect class; requires compelling state
interest
 sex: requires only important state interest
