Civil Liberties
• Personal rights & freedoms that cannot be
abridged
• Limits governments power to restrain or
dictate how we act
• Conflict occurs when individuals or groups
exercise their rights and the government
seeks to control that exercise in the
interest of the rights of others and to keep
order
Enforcing Civil Rights (as opposed
to civil liberties)
• Positive acts by governments to protect against
arbitrary or discriminatory action by government or
individuals.
• Those seeking equality have used the Constitution
and litigation strategies, among other methods such
as:
–
–
–
–
protest
lobbying
civil disobedience
appeals to public opinion
to gain protection from the government.
What is a civil rights issue?
• A group is denied access to facilities, opportunities, or
services available to other groups
•I.E. - segregated schools, segregated lunch counters
•What groups are there?
•Race/ethnicity
•Gender
•Sexual preference
•Age
•Religion
The 14th Amendment and Civil
Rights
• The closest approach to a literal statement
of equality is found in the 14th
Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
– “No State shall… deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
– The clause was originally intended to benefit
newly freed slaves.
– Over time it has acquired broader meaning
Judiciable Issue of Civil Rights
•Issue is whether differences in treatment are
“reasonable”
•Some differences are reasonable
•Progressive taxes
•Some are not reasonable
•Classification based on race or ethnicity are
subject to especially strict scrutiny
•Strict Scrutiny
•Supreme court’s test to see if a law denies equal
protection because it does not serve a compelling
state interest and is not narrowly tailored to
achieve that goal.
•Race, national origin, religion
3 Tests Used by the Courts to Determine
Constitutionality
1. Rational Basis Test
•This test asks: “Does the classification in
question bear a reasonable relationship to
the achievement of some proper
governmental purpose?”
•Michael M. v. Superior Court (1981)
•California law says that a man who has
sexual relations with a girl under 18 can
be prosecuted for statutory rape; but the
girl cannot be charged with that crime,
even if she is a willing partner.
•The Court saw a logical relationship
between the classification and the
purpose of the law/policy.
2. Strict Scrutiny Test
• The Supreme Court imposes a more demanding standard
in some equal protection cases, however.
• This is especially true when a law or some other action
deals with:
– Such “fundamental rights” as the right to vote, the right to travel
between the States, or 1st Amendment rights
– Such “suspect classifications” as those based on race, sex,
national origin
– The state must be able to show that some
“compelling governmental interest” justifies the
distinctions it has drawn between classes of people.
Orr v. Orr
• An Alabama law that made only women
eligible for alimony was held
unconstitutional , as a denial of equal
protection, because the law’s distinction
between men and women did not serve a
compelling governmental interest.