Civil Rights
 Refers to government-protected rights of individuals
against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by
governments or individuals based on categories such
as:
 race,
 sex,
 national origin,
 age,
 religion
 or sexual orientation
Citizenship
 Missouri Compromise (1820)
 Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
 14th Amendment (1868)
 Definition of a citizen

Someone born or naturalized in the U.S.
Civil War Amendments
 13th-Abolishes Slavery
 14th- Due process, equal protection, privileges and
immunities
 15th-Right to vote regardless of race
Race
 Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
 Brown v. Board (1954)
 De jure
 De facto
Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Leading to the legislation
 Kennedy request on banning discrimination in public
accommodations
 March on Washington led by King

“I Have a Dream” speech
 Kennedy assassinated
 Johnson, southern-born VP, put civil rights on top of his agenda as
new president.

Opposition from Strom Thurmond—longest filibuster in history of
Senate (8 weeks)
 Public opinion changes (southern attitudes)
Civil Rights Act of 1964
 The legislation, once passed…
 Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and
expedited voting rights lawsuits.
 Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in
interstate commerce.
 Authorized the Department of Justice to initiate lawsuits to
desegregate public facilities and schools.
 Provided for the withholding of federal funds from discriminatory
state and local programs.
 Prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds of race, color,
religion, and national origin, or sex.
 Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
to monitor and enforce the bans on employment discrimination.
Impact of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
 Lawsuits quickly emerged to challenge the act.
 Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality.
 Education
 Supreme Court ruled that all state-imposed segregation (de jure
discrimination) must be eliminated at once.
 De fact discrimination

Racial discrimination that results from practice rather than the law
(housing patterns, for example)
 Employment
 Title VII prohibits discrimination in workplace
 Notion of “business necessity”
Women’s Rights
 The Second Feminist Wave
 Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Limited the work day for women in laundries to 10 hours
 Reed v. Reed (1971)
 “Arbitrary” gender discrimination violated 14th Amendment’s
Equal Protection Clause
 Craig v. Boren (1976)
 “Medium scrutiny” standard established for gender
discrimination
 Equal Rights Amendment fails ratification by states
(1982)
Statutory Remedies for Sex
Discrimination
 Title VII: prohibits discrimination by private and(after
1972) public employers
 Key victories under Title VII:
 Consideration of sexual harassment as sex discrimination
 Inclusion of law firms, which many argued were private
partnerships, in the coverage of the act
 A broad definition of what can be considered sexual
harassment, which includes same-sex harassment
 Allowance of voluntary affirmative action programs to redress
historical discrimination against women
Statutory Remedies for Sex
Discrimination
 Title IX
 Provision of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that bars
educational institutions receiving federal funds from
discriminating against female students
 Key victories under Title IX
 Holding school boards or districts responsible for sexual
harassment of students by teachers
Affirmative Action
 Definition: a policy designed to give special
attention to or compensatory treatment of
members of some previously disadvantaged group
 In education
 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
 Racial set asides unconstitutional
 Race could be considered in admissions
 Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
 Race could be considered a “plus” in admissions
New Civil Rights Issues
 Civil Rights and the Graying of America
 Age classifications not suspect category, but fall under
rational basis test.
 Civil Rights and People with Disabilities
 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
 Requiring employers and public facilities to make “reasonable
accommodations” for those with disabilities
 Prohibits employment discrimination against the disabled
New Civil Rights Issues
 Gay and Lesbian Rights
 Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
 Romer v. Evans (1996)
 Lawrence v. Texas (2003)


Overturned Bowers
Private homosexual acts are protected by the Constitution
 Gay marriage
 Many state constitutions amended to prohibit practice
Equal Protection