chapter 21: civil rights: equal justice under law section...

Chapter 21: Civil Rights: EqualJustice Under Law

Section 2

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Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 2Chapter 21, Section 2

Objectives

1. Explain the importance of the EqualProtection Clause.

2. Describe the history of segregation inAmerica.

3. Examine how classification by genderrelates to discrimination.


Key Terms

• rational basis test: a test used to decideif a government classification isdiscriminatory or not

• strict scrutiny test: a stricter test than arational basis test in which officials mustshow that they have a stronggovernmental interest in classifying people

• segregation: the separation of one groupfrom another on the basis of race


Key Terms, cont.

• Jim Crow: discriminatory laws aimed atAfrican Americans

• separate-but-equal doctrine: the ideathat separate but equal facilities are legal

• integration: the process of bringing asegregated group into mainstream society

• de jure: by law• de facto: by fact


Introduction

• How has the interpretation of the guarantee ofequal rights changed over time?

– The Supreme Court once upheld the constitutionalityof racial segregation and laws that discriminatedagainst women.

– Thanks to many legal challenges, racial segregationis illegal today and many sex-based distinctions areconsidered unconstitutional.


Equal Protection Clause

• The Equal ProtectionClause of the 14th

Amendment bans thestates from drawingunfair distinctionsbetween classes ofpeople.

• The bronze statueFreedom stands atopthe Capitol, symbolizingequal rights for all.

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Equal Protection Clause, cont.

• Government has the power to drawdistinctions between groups, but cannotmake unreasonable distinctions.

• The Supreme Court applies the rationalbasis test to most equal protection cases.– This test asks if the classification in question

bears a reasonable relationship to theachievement of some proper governmentalpurpose.


Equal Protection Clause, cont.

• In some cases the Supreme Court appliesthe strict scrutiny test.

– This test is used when a case deals witheither fundamental rights such as the right tovote, or with “suspect classifications” such asrace or sex.

– In such cases a state must be able to showthat compelling governmental interest justifiesthe distinctions drawn between people.


• Beginning in the 1800s,nearly half the statespassed segregationlaws separating onerace from another.

• These laws enforcedsegregation in publicand private facilities,such as schools, hotels,restaurants, andrailroads.

Segregation

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Separate-But-Equal

• In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld segregation byruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate coachesfor African Americans were legal because they wereequal in quality to the ones used by whites.

• African American university students won severalCourt cases by proving that the separate collegefacilities provided for them were not equal.

• However, the basic separate-but-equal doctrineremained the law.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: The three cases were Missouri ex rel. Gaines v.Canada (1938), and Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma, both in1950.

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Brown v. Board of Education

• Checkpoint: What was the result of theBrown v. Board of Education ruling?

– In 1954, the Supreme Court overturnedseparate-but-equal and declared that racialsegregation in public education wasunconstitutional.

– The process of desegregating public schoolswas slow. In 1969 the Court called for fasterprogress.

Checkpoint Answer: The Brown ruling overturned Plessy v Ferguson andofficially banned racial segregation in public education, but the actual processof desegregating the public schools was slow .

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De Jure & De Facto Segregation

• Segregation de jure—by law—wasabolished by 1970.

• Yet de facto segregation—segregation thatexists even without laws—remains.– Housing patterns may create schools with mainly

African American students.– A common desegregation method involves

busing students to different districts.– Some school systems now base their integration

efforts on trying to create an economically diversestudent body.


De Jure Segregation

• The Supreme Court held separate-but-equal facilities tobe constitutional in 1896.– Jim Crow laws

limited voting rightsand requiredseparate facilitiesfor AfricanAmericans.

– Similar lawslegalized MexicanAmericansegregation inTexas andthroughout theSouthwest.

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Other Forms of Segregation

• The Supreme Court has held that racialsegregation is unconstitutional in manyareas, including:– Public swimming pools– Public recreational areas– Local transportation– State prisons and local jails

• All laws banning interracial marriageshave also been struck down.


Classification by Gender

• The Constitution does not specifically grantrights to either men or women, only to “persons”and “people.”

• Many laws that discriminated against womenwere intended to protect them due to theirsupposed weaknesses.

– Early on, the Supreme Court upheld laws that bannedwomen from practicing law and laws that did notrequire them to serve on juries.


Classification by Gender, cont.

• The Court has nowfound many sex-baseddistinctions to beunconstitutional.

– In 1975, the Court ruledthat women cannot beexcluded from juryservice.

– In 1996, the Court ruledthat women can attendthe Virginia MilitaryInstitute.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: The image above depicts students at William MilitaryInstitute.

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Classification by Gender, cont.

• Classification by gender is not alwaysunconstitutional.– For example, the Court has ruled that women do not

have to register for the draft.

• But laws that treat men and women differentlywill be overturned unless:– They are intended to serve an important

governmental objective– They are substantially related to achieving that

objective


Review

• Now that you have learned about how theinterpretation of the guarantee of equalrights has changed over time, go back andanswer the Chapter Essential Question.– Why are there ongoing struggles for civil

rights?

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