Government in America: People, Politics, and PolicyUpdated with 15th Edition

Edwards/Wattenberg/Lineberry

Introduction

Civil Rights Definition: policies designed to protect people

against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals

Today, equality debates center on three types of discrimination Racial Discrimination Gender Discrimination Discrimination based on age, disability, sexual

orientation and other factors

Two Centuries of Struggle

Conceptions of Equality Equal opportunity: same chances Equal results: same rewards

The Constitution and Inequality Equality is not in the original Constitution, nor is

it in the Bill of Rights First mention of equality in the 14th Amendment:

“…equal protection of the laws” One of the “Civil War Amendments” along with 13 and 15

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

The Era of Slavery Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Case concerns a slave brought into free territory and whether or not he should be free

Decision: Slaves had no rights, they were classified as “chattel” Invalidated Missouri Compromise, said Congress had no power

to ban slavery in the Western territories

The Civil War brought about certain changes The Thirteenth Amendment: Abolition of Slavery Fourteenth Amendment: Citizenship, Due Process, Equal

Protection Fifteenth Amendment: Black suffrage

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

The Era of Reconstruction and Resegregation Jim Crow or segregational laws

Relegated African Americans to separate facilities, school systems, even restrooms

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Plessy v Ferguson (1896) Legally justified segregation through “separate but

equal” ruling Homer Plessy was 1/8 black Challenged Louisiana state law Supreme Court validated the idea of Separate facilities for the races

1941 Executive Order outlawed discrimination in defense industries

1948, Truman desegregated the Armed Services

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

The Era of Civil Rights Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas(1954)

Case was brought to court by the NAACP Wanted the SC to rule on whether segregated schools

were inherently unequal and therefore a violation of the EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE of the 14th Amendment

Overturned precedent set by the Plessy decision (end of separate but equal)

School segregation inherently unconstitutional Integrate schools “with all deliberate speed”

Busing of students solution for two kinds of segregation: de jure, “by law” de facto, “in reality”

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

The Era of Civil Rights (continued) Civil Rights Act of 1964

Made racial discrimination illegal in hotels, restaurants, and other public accommodation (Interstate Commerce)

Forbade employment discrimination based on race Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

(EEOC) to protect against job discrimination Provided for withholding grants from state and local

governments that practiced racial discrimination Justice Dept authorized to initiate lawsuits to

desegregate schools and facilities

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Getting and Using the Right to Vote Suffrage: the legal right to vote Fifteenth Amendment: extended suffrage to

African Americans (last of the Civil War Amendments)

Many attempts were made by states to circumvent the 15th Amendment Poll Taxes: small taxes levied on the right to vote (outlawed

by the 24th Amendment – 1964) Grandfather Clause: exempted people whose grandfathers

were eligible to vote in 1860 from having to take literacy tests (found unconstitutional in 1915)

White Primary: Only whites were allowed to vote in the party primaries (declared unconstitutional in 1944)

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Getting and Using the Right to Vote Voting Rights Act of 1965: helped end formal and

informal barriers to voting; sent federal registrars to make sure black people in the South could register and vote

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Other Minority Groups Asian Americans

Korematsu v. United States (1944) Supreme Court UPHELD the internment of the

Japanese in camps during WW2

Women, the Constitution, and Public Policy

The Battle for the Vote Nineteenth Amendment: extended suffrage to women

in 1920

The “Doldrums”: 1920-1960 Laws were designed to protect women, and protect

men from competition with women. Equal Rights Amendment first introduced in Congress

in 1923 Equal Rights Amendment fails ratification by states (1982)

Women, the Constitution, and Public Policy

Women in the Workplace The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned gender

discrimination in employment.Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth

Lily Ledbetter v Goodyear - ruled against Ledbetter in her case of gender discrimination

Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009)Women in the Military

Only men may be drafted Both men and women can now serve in ground

combat.Sexual Harassment

Prohibited by Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964

Newly Active Groups Under the Civil Rights Umbrella

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

Newly Active Groups Under the Civil Rights Umbrella

Gay and Lesbian Rights Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Overturned Bowers Private homosexual acts are protected by the Constitution

Gay marriage Many state constitutions amended to prohibit practice The Defense of Marriage Act (1996) – In Section 3 of

DOMA federal government defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, thus denying same-sex couples the same federal protections as heterosexual couples (Social Security survivor benefits, immigration rights, family and medical leave, tax filing as a married couple, etc)

Gay Rights at the Supreme Court

Windsor v US (2013)

ACLU represented Edie Windsor (83 years old) in suing the federal government for $363,000 in estate taxes she was forced to pay after the death of her partner, Thea Spyer. They were married in Canada in 2007 after a 40 year relationship. Because of DOMA, the federal government did not recognize their marriage.

In June 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of DOMA

Gay Rights at the Supreme Court

Hollingsworth v Perry (2013) California’s Proposition 8, passed in 2009, was a citizen

initiative that stripped same-sex couples of the right to marry, after the California Supreme Court had legalized same sec marriage in 2008

In 2010, a judge found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional and discriminatory. Supporters of Prop 8 appealed the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

The Court of Appeals agreed that Prop 8 “serves no purpose…other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California”

June 2013 the US Supreme Court struck down Prop 8, restoring the freedom to marry for Californians

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; no more quotas Race could be considered in admissions

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v Bollinger Race could be considered a “plus” in admissions

Understanding Civil Rights and Public Policy

Civil Rights and Democracy Equality favors majority rule. Suffrage gave many groups political power.

Civil Rights and the Scope of Government Civil rights laws increase the size and power of

government. Civil rights protect individuals against collective

discrimination.

Summary

Racial minorities and women have struggled for equality since the beginning of the republic.

Constitutional amendments and civil rights legislation guarantee voting and freedom from discrimination.

Civil rights have expanded to new groups.