1. CHAPTER 6
CIVIL RIGHTS

2. CIVIL RIGHTS
Powers or privileges guaranteed to individuals and protected from arbitrary removal at the hands of government or individuals

3. REASONABLENESS STANDARD
When the gov treats classes of people differently the treatment must be reasonable not arbitrary
Suspect classifications – the questionable way of classifying people
Subject to strict scrutiny
“Similarly situated”
A state cannot set different ages at which men and women legally become adults
A law that punishes males but not females for statutory rape is permissible; men and women are not “similarly situated” w/ respect to sexual relations
Selective Service – men have to register for the draft but women don’t

4. 14th AMENDMENT EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE
Has become the vehicle for more expansive Constitutional interpretations

5. DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD (1857)
upheld constitutionality of slavery and forbade Congress from banning it in the new states

6. RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENTS
13th – no involuntary servitude
14th – granted citizenship
15th – extended suffrage to African Americans

7. RIGHT TO VOTE Southern states circumvented the law Instituted:
Literacy tests
White primary
Poll taxes
Grandfather clause
Denying access

8. Voting Rights Act of 1965: prevents states from using any methods to disenfranchise voters: literacy tests, ballot fraud, voter intimidation

9. PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
SCOTUS endorsed “separate but equal” making segregation legal

10. NAACP
Formed in 1909
Goal: win legal battles w/o having to change public opinion or form broad political alliances
Targeted school segregation
For education to be equal, it had to be equally available

11. DISMANTLING SCHOOL SEGREGATION
Campaign in the courts
Prove schools are separate; NOT equal
Inherently unconstitutional
CJ Earl Warren:
“in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place” because “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”

12. “With all deliberate speed”
De jure – by law
De facto – in practice

13. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Outlawed racial discrimination in public places
Prohibited discrimination in employment
Withheld federal funding from schools
Established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor job discrimination

14. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools (1971)
The decision led to the widespread use of busing to end segregation by federal judges in the South.

15. WOMEN & CIVIL RIGHTS Events led to women’s rights 1848 – Seneca Falls
1920 – 19th Amendment
WWII – entrance into workforce
1963 – Equal Pay Act
1963 – Feminine Mystique
1964 – Civil Rights Act
1973 – Roe v. Wade

16. FEMININE MYSTIQUE

17. THE GLASS CEILING
"the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements."

18. EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
“equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”
NEVER PASSED!

19. Stop taking our privileges

20. GAY RIGHTS Bowers v. Hardwick – SC upheld state sodomy laws
Lawrence v. Texas – overturned
DOMA – no state would have to give legal status to same-sex marriage in another state
DADT overturned

21. BEYOND RIGHTS BENEFITS
Favored immigration status, hospital visitation rights, certain tax exemptions, the right to adopt a partner’s child, extension of health and dental insurance coverage

22. OPPOSITION
Tradition – must preserve the vital institution of marriage that is designed to ensure a society’s future through raising children
Morally wrong
Contribute to the breakdown of American family culture = social problems like violent crime and teen pregnancy

23. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Attempts to prevent discrimination by forcing employers and universities to hire a certain percentage of minority groups or to give them compensatory preferential treatment

24. Such programs include:
Recruitment
Preferential treatment
Quotas for women, minorities, and people with disabilities in education
Employment
Awarding of government contracts

25. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Upheld affirmative action but ruled against the practice of setting aside quota spots for particular groups