Chapter 6 Civil Liberties. Civil Rights: Introduction Civil Rights –Guarantees of equal opportunities, privileges, and treatment under the law that allow

Chapter 6Chapter 6Civil Liberties

Civil Rights: Civil Rights: IntroductionIntroduction

• Civil Rights– Guarantees of equal opportunities,

privileges, and treatment under the law that allow individuals to participate fully and equally in American society.

– Generally understood as rooted in the 14th Amendment

– Describe what government must do to prevent discrimination.


• Equal Protection Clause– Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment

stating that states are not to deny any person equal treatment under the law.


– The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) prohibits slavery within the United States.

– The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) established that all persons born in the United States are citizens and no state shall deprive citizens of their rights under the Constitution.

– The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) established the right of citizens to vote.

Civil Rights: HistoryCivil Rights: History

• The Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to 1875– Aimed at the Southern states. – Attempted to prevent states from

passing laws that would circumvent the amendments

– Included full and equal enjoyment of public places, and penalties for interfering with any right privilege or immunity held by another citizen.


• The Civil Rights Cases (1883)- Held that the enforcement clause of

the 14th Amendment (no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens) was limited to correcting official actions taken by the states, thus meaning discriminatory actions of private citizens were legal.


• Jim Crow– System of laws that separated the

races in schools, public accommodations, and other aspects of daily life.


• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)– The 14th Amendment “could not have

been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social…equality”

– Gives us the “Separate But Equal Doctrine”

Separate but EqualSeparate but Equal

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)– The 14th Amendment “could not have

been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social…equality”

– Gives us the “Separate But Equal Doctrine”

An end to Separate but An end to Separate but EqualEqual

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)– Segregation of races in public schools violates 14th

amendment.– Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (end of separate

but equal)

• “With All Deliberate Speed.” - Order from the Supreme Court that lower courts

had to ensure African Americans were being admitted to school districts “with all deliberate speed”. Lower courts were given the task of ensuring school districts were designed “on a non-racial basis”.

Civil Rights: Civil Rights: SegregationSegregation

• De facto segregation– racial segregation that occurs because

of past social and economic conditions and residential racial patterns.

• De jure segregation– racial segregation that occurs because

of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies.

Civil DisobedienceCivil Disobedience

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.• Civil Disobedience

- “A nonviolent public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws”

- Also advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau.

Civil Rights: LegislationCivil Rights: Legislation

• Civil Rights Act of 1964– Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter

registration– Barred discrimination in public accommodations

whose operations affect interstate commerce (Examples: hotels, restaurants)

– Expanded power of federal government to sue school systems into desegregation

– Expanded the power of the Civil Rights Commission

– Withheld federal funds from programs administered in a discriminatory manner

– Established the right of equal opportunity in employment.

Civil Rights: Women’s Civil Rights: Women’s movementmovement

• Much of the focus of the early women’s movement focused on suffrage

• Suffrage- The right to vote. - Achieved with the 19th amendment in

1920



• Feminism- The movement that supports political,

economic, and social equality for women.


• Equal Rights Amendment– “Equality of rights under the law shall

not be denied or abridge by the United States or by any state on account of sex”

– First introduced in 1923, finally approved by both chambers in 1972

– 38 states would have to ratify, and the amendment failed to get the 38 in the seven years specified by Congress.


• The failure of the ERA led to more targeted actions aimed at getting rid of any law or practice that allowed for gender discrimination

• Gender Discrimination- Any practice, policy or procedure that

denies equality of treatment to an individual or to a group because of gender.


• Wage Discrimination– Recent figures show a woman earns

76 cents for every dollar made by a man.– The Equal Pay Act of 1963– The Glass Ceiling

Copyright © 2009 Cengage Learning 20

How Many Women Work, 2006 How Many Women Work, 2006

Civil Rights: Other Civil Rights: Other GroupsGroups

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967– Protects citizens over 40 years of age– Prohibits discrimination against

individuals on the basis of age unless age is shown to be a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business


• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)(1990)– Public buildings and public services must

be acceptable to persons with disabilities– Employers must reasonably accommodate

the needs of workers or potential workers with disabilities.

– Does not require the hiring of unqualified persons just because they have a disability.


• BSA v Dale 2000• As a private organization, the Court ruled

the Boy Scouts did not have to allow an openly gay man to become a scout leader.


• Lawrence v. Texas (2003)– “The liberty protected by the

Constitution allows homosexual persons the right to choose to enter upon relationships in the confines of their homes and their own private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons”

– Invalidates all remaining sodomy laws


• The GLBT Community and Politics – Gay activists now play a role in both

major parties. Eleven openly gay men or lesbians sit in the House.

Affirmative ActionAffirmative Action

• Affirmative Action- A policy in educational admissions or

job hiring that gives special attention or compensatory treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination.

- Argument is that past discrimination makes it impossible for certain groups to compete, so affirmative action “levels the playing field”


• Reverse Discrimination- Discrimination against members of a

majority group.


• Regents of the University of CA v. Bakke (1978)– Supreme Court decision that a rigid

quota plan for admissions violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee but race could be considered a “plus factor” in college admissions to increase study body diversity.

Modern Civil RightsModern Civil Rights

• Reasonable-Basis Test- A test applied by courts to laws that treat

individuals unequally. Such a law may be deemed constitutional if its purpose is held to be “reasonably” related to a legitimate government interest.

- Example: The courts have held that the goal of reducing fatalities from alcohol related involving young drivers is reason enough to uphold drinking laws that discriminate on the basis of age.

Modern Civil RightsModern Civil Rights

• Strict-Scrutiny Test- A test applied by courts to laws that

attempt a racial or ethnic classification. In effect, the strict-scrutiny test eliminates race or ethnicity as a legal classification when it places a minority group at a disadvantage.

- A law that treats people different based on race is assumed unconstitutional unless government can provide overwhelming evidence of its necessity.

Documents

Chapter 6 Civil Liberties. Civil Rights: Introduction Civil Rights –Guarantees of equal opportunities, privileges, and treatment under the law that allow