Equality and Civil Rights

Equality and Civil RightsEquality and Civil Rights

Civil liberties: freedoms guaranteed to the individual requiring federal restraint Tension: freedom & order

Civil rights: powers & privileges that are guaranteed by government to individuals in groups and which cannot be taken away by government or any other source Tension: equality & freedom


Origins of concern lay in pattern of discrimination against African Americans, even after 13th-15th Amendments

We discriminate all of the time, but we hope the discrimination is based on appropriate criteria rather than on race, sex, ethnic origin, etc.

Overview of Race DiscriminationOverview of Race Discrimination Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths

to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… Constitution contained 3 references to slavery:

Article I, Sect. 2: Representatives and direct taxes shall be…determined by adding…3/5ths of all other persons

Article I, Sect. 9: The migration and importation of persons….shall not be prohibited prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed…

Article III, Sect. 2: No person held to service or labor in one state…be discharged from such service or labor

Overview of Race DiscriminationOverview of Race Discrimination 1861-1865:Civil War fought in part over slavery 1865: 13th Amendment prohibited slavery 1868: 14th Amendment extends citizenship to all

persons born or naturalized in U.S.; no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law...nor deny to any person ... equal protection of the laws

1870:15th Amendment extends voting rights to all citizens and prohibits denial on basis of race, color, or prior condition of servitude

Overview of Race DiscriminationOverview of Race Discrimination 13th-15th Amendments authorized Congress to

enforce amendments with legislation 1875: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act

prohibiting discrimination in public places (inns, trains, etc.)

1876 Supreme Court ruled that freedom of assembly was not protected by 14th Amend. and that 15th Amend. did not guarantee vote (only stipulated reasons that could not be used to deny the vote)

Overview of Race DiscriminationOverview of Race Discrimination 1876: Presidential election between Republican

Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden was contested; Southern Democrats conceded in exchange for removal of federal troops from southern states

Hayes kept promise and removed troops; social patterns of segregation restored

1877 Georgia introduced the poll tax

Overview of Race DiscriminationOverview of Race Discrimination

1883: Supreme Court found Civil Rights Act unconstitutional; Congress could only correct state laws that discriminated against blacks Private associations are off limits (set own rules)

1896: Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court upheld state laws imposing racial segregation in public facilities and established the doctrine of separate but equal

1899: separate but equal doctrine applied to public schools


1909: W.E. B. DuBois & others founded NAACP 1938: Supreme Court ruled that Lloyd Gaines had to

be admitted to Missouri’s (all white) law school as a comparable school for blacks did not exist

1947: President Truman ordered desegregation of the armed services

1954: Brown v. Bd. of Education Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal had no place in education; attacked principle at core of equal protection clause


1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama and city boycott organized

1957: Martin Luther King, Jr. organizes So. Christian Leadership Conference & advocates civil disobedience

1963: King delivers “I have a dream” speech in Washington, D.C. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King


1964 Congress passed Civil Rights Act Private lodgings, restaurants, sports arenas, etc.

cannot discriminate on the basis of race Employers of 15 or more people cannot

discriminate on the basis of race (applied to state and local governments in 1972)


1964: Civil Rights Act challenged; Supreme Court rules in Katzenbach v. McClung that commerce clause enables Congress to regulate interstate commerce and, thus, to make racial discrimination illegal in any business participating in commerce

1964: 24th Amendment banned poll taxes 1965: President Johnson issues Executive Order

11246 required affirmative action by government contractors to redress discrimination


1968: Fair Housing Act banned discrimination in housing

1968: Riots broke out in 168 cities protesting King assassination


1969: Supreme Court orders desegregation of public schools immediately

1971: Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Cnty Schools Supreme Court identifies remedies such as busing, racial quotas, pairing school districts to achieve integration & distinguishes between de jure and de facto segregation

SegregationSegregation

De Jure segregation Comes about because of legislation or court

decisions (acts of government) De Facto segregation

Comes about from different social or economic circumstances

Affirmative ActionAffirmative Action

Establishes remedies to overcome past discrimination Raises question whether outcome is related to

opportunity Raises question whether to focus on historical de

jure segregation only Opponents charge Reverse Discrimination Court has equivocated as public opinion shifts


Equality of Opportunity: each person has the same opportunity to succeed in life

Equality of Outcome: government to design policies to redistribute wealth and status so that economic and social equality is achieved

Equality of outcome was originally conceived to be a temporary adjustment to compensate for historical pattern of discrimination against African Americans


1974: Milliken v. Bradley limits busing to school districts with history of discrimination

1976: Regents of U. C. Davis v. Bakke Supreme Court considered reverse discrimination and found racial quotas unconstitutional but allowed race to be one of several factors in admission

1979 and 1980: Affirmative Action plans in employment upheld; later restricted to narrow area where history of discrimination proven


1995: Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena placed restriction on affirmative action in highway contracts

1996: California passed Proposition 209 prohibiting affirmative action in employment and college admissions throughout the state

Equal Protection of the lawEqual Protection of the law

Supreme Court has established different standards for evaluating discrimination in state laws Rational basis (lowest level) Heightened scrutiny (middle level; gender) Strict scrutiny (suspect classes including race,

ethnic origin, religion)

HispanicsHispanics

1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended Mexican-American War and guaranteed citizenship and land rights to Mexican-Americans

Social practices ignored treaty despite participation of Hispanics in military efforts

Mexican American Legal Defense (MALDEF) & Cesar Chavez are examples of civil rights efforts

Focus has been on legislative districts and gaining representation in state legislatures & Congress

Native AmericansNative Americans Historically, Native Americans were concentrated in

tribes with which the Federal Government had treaties; treaties complex but also abrogated

U.S. government accused of genocide--deliberate elimination of a population

Native Americans were not granted U.S.citizenship until 1924

Native Americans Rights Fund (1970) has sought recognition of tribes and fishing, land & other rights--may conflict with water rights in California

Disabled AmericansDisabled Americans

1990: Americans with Disability Act requires access to public buildings and make other accommodations in employment. Act covers physical and mental disabilities as well as AIDS

Gays and LesbiansGays and Lesbians

Rights are largely determined by state laws U.S. Supreme Court has been reluctant to interfere

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Supreme Court upheld Georgia statute prohibiting sodomy, even in privacy of one’s own home

Hawaii Supreme Court (1993) found that equal protection of the laws extended to homosexual marriages although constitution amended in 1998

Gays and LesbiansGays and Lesbians

Congress (1996) passed Defense of Marriage Act in response to Hawaii Supreme Court decision Article IV, Sect. 1 of U.S. Constitution stipulates: Full

faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.

Congress’s action exempted homosexual marriages…

Romer v. Evans (1996) found Colorado’s law invalidating local ordinances supporting homosexuals unconstitutional

Women’s MovementWomen’s Movement

1908: Supreme Court upholds Oregon law limiting number of hours women can work

1920: 19th Amendment passed allowing women to vote

1923: Equal Rights Amendment proposed 1963: Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for equal

work, where equal work is defined as same job

Women’s MovementWomen’s Movement

1964: Title VII of Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment on basis of race, color, religion, national origin and sex

1972: ERA passes Congress 1982: ERA dies, lacking ratification of 3 states

race: suspect class; requires compelling state interest

sex: requires only important state interest

Equality and Civil Rights

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