Civil Rights
“Equal Protection”
14th Amendment (1868)
• Forbids any state to “deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
• Originally designed to protect newly freed
African Americans from infringement of their
rights by state governments
• Has been expanded to cover Suspect
Categories such as gender, race, ethnicity, age,
disability, or sexual orientation
Supreme Court
Guidelines
• Reasonable Classification
– The court has ruled that government must have the
power to make reasonable classifications between
persons and groups
– reasonable classifications include denying suffrage to
those under age 18 or imposing a high excise tax on
cigarettes which smokers must pay
Supreme Court
Guidelines
• Intermediate Scrutiny
– If the policy “serves an important government interest”
and is “substantially related” to serving that interest, it
is constitutional
– Ex: Men can be punished for statutory rape even if
women are not punished because men and women
are not “similarly situated”
– Ex: Men can be barred from hospital delivery rooms
even though women are admitted (Duh!!)
Supreme Court
Guidelines
• Strict Scrutiny
– The Supreme Court has ruled that classification by
race and ethnic background is inherently suspect and
must therefore meet a strict scrutiny test
– classification based on race and ethnic background
must be justified by a “compelling public interest”
– Ex: you cannot bar a specific racial group from a
public school or from voting, nor can you bar a
specific religious group from knocking on your door to
promote its views
Historical Cases
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Dred Scott (1857) Blacks aren’t citizens
13th Amendment (1865) Abolished slavery
15th Amendment (1870) suffrage for black males
Jim Crow Laws – segregated community
• de jure (by law) and de facto (by reality)
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) separate but equal
• Brown v. Board of Education – “separate but
equal” unconstitutional
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Ended Jim Crowe segregation in public
accommodations (hotels, restaurants)
– Made racial discrimination illegal – used the
Commerce Clause
• Schools Desegregated
– Gov can force desegregation though litigation
• Equal Employment Opportunity
– Prohibited discrimination in employment based on
race, color, national origin, religion, or gender
Disenfranchisement
• Poll Taxes – required voters to pay a tax
to vote (eliminated by the 24th Amendment
in 1964)
• Literacy Tests – I could never vote 
• White Primaries – excluded African
Americans from participating
• The Grandfather Clause allowed most
whites to avoid these obstacles
Voting Rights Act of
1965
• Outlawed literacy tests
• Provided federal oversight of voter registration in
areas with a history of discriminatory practices
• Reduced voter registration disparity between
African Americans and whites
– This led to a steady rise in the number of African
Americans who were elected to public office. In 1965
70 African Americans held public office in 11 southern
states, today the number is over 5,000
Native Americans
• Almost half of the 2 million Native
Americans live on “reservations”
• Push for more sovereignty on their land
with less governmental regulation
– Ex. – gambling operation rights
• Art. 1, Sec. 8 – commerce clause give
Congress right to regulate Indian tribes
Latino/Latina Rights
• 53 million in US (2012) (about 10 million in 1980)
• Mexican –)-rights issues include Bilingual
education programs, immigration
• Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of US,
citizens can move freely back and forth,
not represented in Congress, don’t have to
pay federal tax
• Cuban population tends to be conservative
Asian Americans
• 14.7 million in US
• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 – lasted
through WWII
• WWII – Japanese racism – internment
• Korematsu v. US (1944)
• 1980s reparations for internment
• Current trend is immigration from Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos
Asian Americans
• Gen. John L. DeWitt, who administered the internment
program, repeatedly told newspapers that "A Jap's a
Jap" and testified to Congress:
“I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese
ancestry] here. They are a dangerous element. There
is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no
difference whether he is an American citizen, he is
still a Japanese. American citizenship does not
necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry
about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off
the map.”
Women and Equal
Rights
• Seneca Falls Convention – 1848 –
beginning of women’s suffrage movement
• Muller v. Oregon (1908) – upheld 10 hour
work day limit for women
• 19th Amendment (1920) Women can vote!
• 1970s – “reasonableness standard” – all
legal circumstance must be treated equal
– Ex. Cannot set different age limits for driving,
but can set laws on rape that punish man only
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
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
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
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
Homosexual Rights
• 1993 – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – gay rights
to be in the military (overturned 2011)
• Hardwick v. Georgia (1986) – a law
forbidding homosexuality was constitutional
• Lawrence v. Texas (2003) – law against
homosexual action violated due process of
14th Amendment – “life, liberty, and
property” (overturned Hardwick)
Affirmative Action
• Affirmative Action is a policy requiring
federal agencies, universities, and most
employers to take steps to remedy the
effects of past discrimination
– Supporters believe we need to atone for past
injustices
– Critics believe that this creates reverse
discrimination and punishes members of
majority groups
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, 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
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