CIVIL RIGHTS

Ch 6

Civil Rights

When is it reasonable for the government to treat people differently?

When is unequal treatment a “suspect classification” and therefore subject to “strict scrutiny”?

African-Americans and Civil Rights 12% of the population 1789-1865-slavery existed-13th

Amendment 1865-1964-Legalized segregation-

Civil Rights Act of 19641882-1946-4715 people lynched in the

USAfrican-Americans not allowed to vote

in many areas despite the 15th Amendment

Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

Homer Plessy challenged a LA law that segregated railroad trains in that state

SCOTUS applied “separate but equal” doctrine

14th Amendment guaranteed political and legal equality, but not social equality

Segregation is not intrinsically a violation of the 14th Amendment

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Court based approach to did not require changing opinions or forming political coalitions

Segregation on Law schools 1938-Gaines v Missouri-Missouri Law

School 1950-Sweatt v Painter-Texas Law

School

1954-Brown v Board of Education Court overturns Plessy, and argues

that separate but equal facilities are “inherently unequal” and are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment Linda Brown has a constitutional right to attend white school.

Power of Civil Disobedience Montgomery Bus Boycott-MLK and

Rosa Parks

1957-Little Rock Crisis

Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus used the state’s National Guard to block integration of Central High School. Ike sends in 101st airborne and nationalizes the state’s militia.

1957-Civil Rights Act

1st Civil Rights Act passes since reconstruction

1957-Created Civil Rights Commission

1960’s Civil Rights Movements Sit-ins and freedom rides 1963-March on Washington

Summer of 1964-Freedom Summer in South

1964 Civil Rights Act

No discrimination in public accommodations on basis of race, sex, national origin

Outlawed discrimination in employment

Selma March for Voting Rights-50th anniversity

1965 Voting Rights Act

no literacy tests Federal examiners to South to

oversee voting procedures Tough penalties for those that

interfered with right to vote Preclearance required with DOJ for

any changes in election laws for counties where less than 50% voted in 1964

Preclearance

Voting registration-The south Voter Registration Rates (1965 vs. 1988)   March 1965 November 1988

Black White Gap Black White Gap

Alabama 19.3 69.2 49.9 68.4 75.0 6.6 Georgia 27.4 62.6 35.2 56.8 63.9 7.1 Louisiana 31.6 80.5 48.9 77.1 75.1 -

2.0 Mississippi 6.7 69.9 63.2 74.2 80.5

6.3 N.Carolina 46.8 96.8 50.0 58.2 65.6 7.4 S. Carolina 37.3 75.7 38.4 56.7 61.8 5.1 Virginia 38.3 61.1 22.8 63.8 68.5 4.7

Shelby County v. Holder (2013) Preclearance declared to be

unconstitutional because it is based on outdated standards from 40 years ago

1971-Swann v Charlotte Board of Education Intent to discriminate must be

proved all white or all black schools in a

district shows an intent to discriminate

remedies include bussing, redrawn district lines, and new assignment of teachers

Not every school must reflect the composition of the school system as a whole

Seattle School district

Students could apply to any school in the district

District 41%white/59%non-white System of tie breakers to break ties

among popular schools One of the tie breakers race to

maintain racial diversity within pre ordained ratio

Parents v. Seattle School District No. 1,(2007), 1. Involved voluntary school

desegregation/integration efforts in Seattle, WA and Louisville, KY.

2. The Court recognized that seeking diversity and avoiding racial isolation are compelling state interests.

3. However, the Court struck down both school districts’ assignment plans, finding that the plans were not sufficiently "narrowly tailored,"

Gender and “equal treatment” Key differences between women and

African Americans

Laws restricting women were part of “protective paternalism”

1920-Passage of the 19th Amendment No state can deny the right to vote

on the basis of sex

Congress passes Equal Pay Act in 1963, prohibited employment discrimination on basis of Sex, and the Title IX of the Civil Rights Act

14th Amendment guarantee of “Equal treatment” 2 standards to determine when differences

in treatment are allowed

1. Reasonableness standard-when the government treats some people differently it must be reasonable and not arbitrary

2. Strict scrutiny method-instances of drawing differences on the basis of sex or race are inherently suspect and must be based on a compelling state interest

Illegal forms of sex discrimination 1. age that girls and boys become

adults 2. legal age to drive or drink 3. arbitrary height and weight

requirements for jobs 4. mandatory pregnancy leaves 5. barred from Little League baseball

games 6. Pay for coaches of high school

basketball teams the same

Legal forms of sex differences 1. Law that punishes male for

statutory rape is permissible, men and women are not “similarly situated” in sexual relations

2. All boy or all girl schools where enrollment is voluntary

3. Selective service (draft) for men and women

1996 Virginia v United States Can VMI deny females entrance into a

state supported all –male institution? They proposed a parallel program at Mary Baldwin

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated that because VMI failed to show "exceedingly persuasive justification" for its sex-based admissions policy, it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Sexual Harassment

2 basic forms

1. Sexual favors as a “quid pro quo” as a condition of employment or promotion-employer is strictly liable

2. Creating a hostile environment through a steady stream of obscenity, harassment, teasing, jokes-employer is liable if negligent

Affirmative Action?

Make “Equal Opportunity” a reality Give minorities a better chance to

compete on an equal footing Reverse and compensate for past

wrongs of racism and discrimination

1978 Bakke v U of Cal Regents Medical School U of Cal(Davis) sets up special

admissions program Reserves 16 out of 100 places each

year for minority students Allan Bakke-34 year old white male-

twice rejected for admission-MCAT scores and grades higher than average for minorities

Ruling

Quota systems are illegal Race can be a factor among many

others for admission, but not the only factor

2003 Grutter v Bollinger

Affirmative action point system (Plus point system) at U of Mich law school

Plan must remedy past proven discrimination

Plan must advance diversity as a legitimate educational goal

Plan must be narrowly tailored in order to do a little damage as possible

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action Michigan voters pass a constitutional

amendment that forbids state public universities from using race as a factor in admissions decisions, Court upholds and says this is not a violation of the 14th Amendment, does the 14th Amendment guarantee equal protection require the state to use affirmative action? It does not.

Plan (how would you decide based on these three questions?)  

A Louisville case filed by a mother of a kindergarten class who was denied a transfer to his chosen kindergarten class because the school he wanted to leave needed to keep its white students to stay within the programs racial guidelines.

A Seattle program that limited transfer to schools on the basis of race using race as a “tiebreaker” for admission into particular schools.

A Texas school lays off a non-minority faculty member in order to maintain a racially diverse faculty.

The University of Texas adopts a plan that automatically accepts the top 10% of each high school graduation class, and denies entrance to two white students who failed to score in the top 10% of their class.

A federal government program that gave financial incentives for contractors to employ subcontractors from “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,” which it presumed would include different racial classifications

State Police Power

All laws passed to promote public order and secure the safety and morals of the citizens

Right to restrict abortion Right to restrict obscenity and define

deviant sexual behavior Right to define marriage standards

Right to Privacy

1965- Griswold v Connecticut Connecticut state law restricting

contraception declared unconstitutional

There are “zones of privacy” created by penumbras cast off by various provisions of the Bill of Rights

WTH is a “penumbra”

Roe v Wade-1973

Right to privacy included a general right for a women to receive a abortion

1st Trimester-unlimited right to abortion

2nd Trimester-state can limit 3rd Trimester-state can ban

Pro Life versus Pro Choice!

Casey v Planned Parenthood-1992 Court explicitly refused to overturn

Roe but upheld a series of Penn State restrictions including waiting periods, parental consent, etc as long as they did not present a undue burden on the mother

Undue Burden Standard

developments

Stenberg v Carhart-(2000) Court struck down Nebraska law banning partial birth abortion because there was no exemption to same life of mother

Gonzales v Carhart-(2003) Court upheld federal law banning certain forms of partial birth abortion

Gay rights

Police Power-Georgia banned sodomy Bowers v Hardwick (1986) SCOTUS upheld

the Georgia sodomy ban

Romer v Evans-(1996) Scotus overturned a Colorado amendment that said gays could not benefit from special legal protections

Lawrence v Texas -(2003) court strikes down a Texas state sodomy law

1996-DOMA

Defense of Marriage Act passed No state would have to give legal

status to the same sex marriage passed in another state

Federal law marriage defined between a man and a woman

2013-DOMA declared unconstitutional

BSA v Dale

The Boy Scouts as a private organization can ban gays from its membership and its leadership

ADA

American with Disabilities Act Sweeping law that extends civil

rights protections to the disabled in regards to employment, transportation, and public accommodations and mandates “reasonable” accommodations