CIVIL RIGHTS
**BOLD= Something you need to know/write down**
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|1
What’s the difference between Civil
Rights & Civil Liberties??
Civil Liberties ~ are personal guarantees and
freedoms that the government cannot abridge
(take away).
Civil Rights ~ protect individual freedoms from
infringement by governments, social organizations,
and private individuals. Ensures a group’s ability
to participate in the civil and political life of the
society and state without discrimination or
repression.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|2
What are civil rights?
• Protect certain groups against
discrimination
• Claims are raised when a group is denied
access to facilities, opportunities, or
services available to other groups
• The issue is whether differences in
treatment are reasonable
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|3
Major Areas of Civil Rights Litigation
•
•
•
•
•
Rights for Racial Minorities
Rights for Women
Rights for the Disabled
Rights for Gay Americans
Rights for Non-Citizens
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|4
14th Amendment –
The most important in Civil Rights cases
No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any state deprive any person
of life, liberty or property, without due
process of the law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|5
Separate-But-Equal
• NAACP strategy went through a series of
stages:
– Step 1: obvious inequalities, addressed in
1938–1948 cases
– Step 2: deciding that separation creates
inequality in less obvious cases
– Step 3: declaring that separation is inherently
unequal - Brown v. Board of Education
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|6
Brown v. Board of Education
• Unanimous Supreme Court opinion overturned
Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal)
• Segregation is detrimental; creates sense of
inferiority in African American students
• The Court relied on social science, because the
Fourteenth Amendment was not necessarily
intended to abolish segregated schools, and the
Court sought a unanimous opinion
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|7
What is the difference is between
“desegregation of schools” and the
“integration of schools”? Explain
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|8
“desegregation of schools”
~ the process of ending the separation of
two groups, usually referring to race, in
public K-12 schools and Universities.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6|9
“integration of schools”
~ In addition to desegregation, integration
includes goals like creating equal
opportunity regardless of race.
**It is NOT merely bringing a racial minority
into the majority culture.**
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 10
Desegregation v. Integration
• Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg (1971):
remedies may include racial quotas,
redrawn district lines, and court-ordered
busing
• Inter-city busing could be authorized only if
both the city and the suburbs had practiced
segregation
• Busing remains controversial
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 11
Figure 6.2: Growing Support Among
Southern Democrats in Congress for Civil
Rights Bills
Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation, vols. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 12
Table 6.1: Increase in Number of Black
Elected Officials
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 13
Women’s Rights
• What rights did women have in America prior to 1950?
• What issues were women facing in becoming equal
economic actors?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 14
Sexual Harassment
• Quid pro quo: sexual favors are required
as a condition for holding a job or for
promotion; employers are strictly liable
• Hostile environment: creating a setting in
which harassment impairs a person’s ability
to work; employers are liable if they were
negligent
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 15
Privacy and Sex
• Regulating sexual matters is traditionally a
state function, under the exercise of the
police powers
• In 1965, Supreme Court held that states
could not prevent the sale of
contraceptives, because that violated the
zone of privacy (9th Amendment)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 16
Abortion
• Roe v. Wade: struck down a Texas ban on
abortion (and all similar state laws)
• Woman’s freedom to choose is protected by the
Fourteenth Amendment
• Webster (1989): The Court upheld some
restrictions on abortions
• Casey decision (1992) does not overturn Roe but
permits more restrictions: 24-hour wait, parental
consent, pamphlets about alternatives
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 17
Affirmative Action
• Affirmative action: preferential hiring
and admission practices to remedy
discrimination
• Bakke (1978): numerical minority quotas
are not permissible, but race can be
considered
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 18
Affirmative Action – Famous Cases
• Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995)—any racial
classification is subject to strict scrutiny
• Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) – overturned a
University of Michigan admissions policy that
gave “bonus points” to Black, Hispanic and
Native American applicants to the undergraduate
program
• Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) upheld a University of
Michigan Law School admissions policy that used
race as a “plus factor” but not as part of a
numerical quota
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 19
Rights for the Disabled
• 1990: Americans with Disabilities Act is
passed extending protection to disabled
persons.
• Who is disabled? Anyone who has a
physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major
life activities, or anyone who has a record
of such impairment.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 20
Rights for the Disabled
• Employment: may not be denied unless a
reasonable accommodation cannot be
made.
• Disabled persons must have equal access
to government programs and
transportation.
• Disabled persons must have “full and
equal access” to public spaces.
• CAN BE DENIED IF IT PRESENTS
UNDUE HARDSHIP!
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 21
Gays and the Constitution
• Bowers v. Hardwick (1986): Georgia was allowed
to ban homosexual sexual activity
• Romer v. Evans (1996): Colorado voters had
adopted state constitutional amendment making it
illegal to protect persons based on gay,
lesbian or bisexual orientation; the Court
overturns it
• Lawrence v. Texas (2003): The Court
overturned a Texas law banning sexual
conduct between persons of the same sex
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 22
Rights of Non-Citizens
Protected
Not Protected
Children cannot be excluded from
schools.
INS can arrest and search at will.
Legally admitted non-citizens can get
welfare benefits.
States can limit what jobs non-citizens
can hold.
First amendment rights apply to NonCitizens.
They can be barred from sitting on
juries.
They are entitled to own property
Undocumented people cannot get a
social security card.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6 | 23