Chapter 5
Equality through Law
 The Fourteenth Amendment: equal protection
 Equal-protection clause forbids states from denying equal
protection
 Segregation in the schools
 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka—banned forced
segregation in schools
 Little change to segregation 15 years later
 Supreme Court encouraged busing as solution to
segregation; highly controversial, mixed results
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Equality through Law
 Judicial tests of equal protection
 Strict-scrutiny test


Suspect category—assumed unconstitutional in the absence of an
overwhelming justification
Applies to race, ethnicity, etc.
 Intermediate scrutiny

Almost suspect —assumed unconstitutional unless the law serves
a clearly compelling and justified purpose; applies to gender
 Reasonable-basis test

Not suspect category—assumed constitutional unless no sound
rationale for the law can be provided; applies to age, income, etc.
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Equality through Law
 The Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Accommodations and jobs


Public accommodations cannot refuse to serve customers based
on race
Most employers cannot refuse to consider applicants based on
race
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Equality through Law
 The black civil rights movement
 Impetus behind Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Busing boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
 Strong resistance to Civil Rights Act, but ultimately
successful
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Equality through Law
 The movement for women’s rights
 Seneca Falls
 Women acquire the right to vote in 1920 with Nineteenth
Amendment
 The Equal Rights Amendment: passed Congress but failed
ratification by states
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Equality through Law
 Hispanic Americans and the farm workers’ strikes
 Strikes in 1960s and 70s, largely for migrant workers’
rights; most success in California
 Native Americans and their long-delayed rights
 Granted citizenship in 1924
 Protests in 1970s; greater control over own affairs
 1968 Indian Bill of Rights
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Equality through Law
 Asian Americans and immigration
 Long tradition of immigration restriction, ended 1965
 Some legal victories in field of education
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Equality through Law
 The Voting Rights Act of 1965
 Barring of whites-only primaries, 1940s
 Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes, 1960s
 Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed federal agents to oversee
voter registration
 States prevented from creating election districts that
deliberately dilute the minority vote, or to give it control
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Equality through Law
 The Civil Rights Act of 1968
 Housing

Prohibition of redlining
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What’s Your Opinion?
 Should private discrimination be allowed?
 Should private country clubs and organizations be allowed
to discriminate based on:



Religion, race, color, ethnic background?
Gender, age, income?
Physical characteristics, sexual preference, lifestyles?
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Equality through Law
 Affirmative action
 Focus on “equality of result”
 De facto discrimination

Social, economic, cultural biases—discrimination
 De jure discrimination

Specific law—discrimination
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Equality through Law
 Affirmative action
 Full and equal opportunities for all in education,
employment, etc.
 Controversy over ends and means
 Affirmative action in law


University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978)
Adarand v. Pena (1995)
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What’s Your Opinion?
 Which position on affirmative action programs comes
closer to your own point of view?
 Keep them without rigid quotas?
 Phase them out?
 Don’t know or have an opinion?
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 African Americans
 Aftermath of the civil rights movement




Continuing high disparity in income
Discrepancies in convictions and sentencing
High rate of dissolution of black families
Movement into political office
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Women
 Electoral and political successes
 Job-related issues





Lack of job equality
Family leave
Gender pay equity
Sexual harassment
“Feminization of poverty”
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Native Americans
 Suits to regain land
 Negative discrepancy in health, wealth, and education
 Casinos; rising income but controversial
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Hispanic Americans
 Immigration and legal residence issues
 Fastest growing minority; electoral success
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Asian Americans
 About 12 million Asian Americans
 Emphasis on academic achievement in Asian American
communities
 Upwardly mobile group
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Gays and lesbians
 Legal victories: Romer v. Evans, Lawrence v. Texas
 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act in 2010: gays and lesbians
can now serve openly in the armed services
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Gays and lesbians
 Legal setbacks: Boy Scouts exclusion policy upheld
 Same-sex marriage legal in some states, but federal Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA) allows states to deny marital
rights granted by other states
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The Continuing Struggle for Equality
 Other disadvantaged groups
 Older Americans

Age Discrimination Act and Age Discrimination in Employment
Act
 Disabled Americans

Americans with Disabilities Act
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Discrimination:
Surface Differences, Deep Divisions
 America’s high ideals often clash with its history
 Frequent tendency or desire to avoid retelling the negative
aspects of American history
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