Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights Ch 6 O’Connor & Sabato text Fall, 2010

2. Civil Rights • Defined: refers to govt-protected rts of individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by govts or individuals based on categories such as race, sex, national origin, age, religion, or sexual orientation

3. Voting rights • A political right or civil right? • Pay attention to: • Voting amendments • Civil Rts Act of 1964, 1968 • Voting Rts Act of 1965 • Actions to disenfranchise blacks • Black Codes, de jure segregation, de facto segregation • Civil Rts movement: actions, leaders, groups • Cases: Dred Scott, Plessy, Brown, Brown II, Cooper v. Aaron, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg

4. Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy • Getting and Using the Right to Vote • Smith v. Allwright (1944): ended white primaries • Twenty-fourth Amendment: eliminated poll taxes for federal elections • Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966): no poll taxes at all • Voting Rights Act of 1965: helped end formal and informal barriers to voting

5. 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 • Poll Taxes: small taxes levied on the right to vote • White Primary: Only whites were allowed to vote in the party primaries.

6. 14th Equal Protections

7. 14th Amendment • Applies to all states • Ct applies Equal Protection to fed govt thru use of 5th Due Process clause [Bolling v. Sharpe(1954)] • ALL laws classify; only some classifications are unconstitutional. Examples: • Okay for 16 yr old to have driver’s license but not 15; • Not okay for white to have license but not a Hispanic • Key: reason for govt classification as compared to effect of law

8. The Equal Protection Clause and Constitutional Standards of Review** • 14th Amendment protects all U.S. citizens from state action that violates equal protection of the laws. • Rational basis or minimum rationality test • Heightened standard required when • Fundamental rights (or First Amendment rights) or suspect classifications such as race are involved. • Ct applies “Strict scrutiny” • Reed v. Reed (1971) • Craig v. Boren (1976)

9. Ct Standards of Review

10. Strict Scrutiny test • Ct uses means-end test: “the classification must be narrowly tailored to effectuate a compelling governmental interest” • Burden of proof on govt to show both: • Narrow– as small a group as possible to achieve goal • Compelling govt interest

11. All other tests • Burden of proof on plaintiff challenging the law • For sex and legitimacy classes: intermediary scrutiny, that is whether law substantially relates to an important govt interest • All other classes: Plaintiff wins if shows arbitrary action; Govt wins if shows a rational basis for the law and that it is not overbroad or vague

12. Violations of the 14th Amendment* • Single-sex public nursing schools • Laws that consider males adult at 21 but females at 18 • Laws that allow women but not men to receive alimony • Virginia’s maintenance of an all-male military college • Contrast: Court has upheld the following:* • Draft registration provisions for males only. • State statutory rape laws that apply only to female victims.

13. Statutory Remedies for Sex Discrimination • Title VII: prohibits discrimination by private and (after 1972) public employers.* • Key victories under Title VII: • Consideration of sexual harassment as sex discrimination. • Inclusion of law firms, which many argued were private partnerships, in the coverage of the act. • A broad definition of what can be considered sexual harassment, which includes same-sex harassment. • Allowance of voluntary affirmative action programs to redress historical discrimination against women.

14. Statutory Remedies for Sex Discrimination • Title IX** • Provision of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that bars educational institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating against female students • Key victories under Title IX ** • Holding school boards or districts responsible for sexual harassment of students by teachers and by other students • Open scheduling of classes – home eco, wood shop • Female sports equal funding, etc

15. Other Groups Mobilize for Rights • Hispanic Americans • Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund • Expand voting rights and political opportunities • Native Americans • “genocide by law”; isolation • Dawes Act in 1887 • Litigation: hunting and fishing rights / licenses, water rights, land rights and access to sacred places, religious freedom • Note: domestic dependent nation status; states off limits – no jd • Gays and Lesbians • Advantaged in terms of education and income status • Romer v. Evans (1996) • Lawrence v. Texas (2003)* [overturned Bowers v. Hardwick]

16. Newly Active Groups Under the Civil Rights Umbrella • Civil Rights and the Graying of America • Age classifications not suspect category, but fall under rational basis test. • 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

17. Continuing Controversies in Civil Rights • Affirmative Action • Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to members of a previously disadvantaged group • Bakke case • Gratz v. Bollinger; Grutter v. Bollinger – Michigan aff. action cases • Under grad used rating system; 20/100 pts if minority = viol of 14th • Grad used as one part of holistic factors = ok • Contract awards by city/state govt ok if minority or female owned company

18. Affirmative Action • In employment • United Steelworks v. Weber (1979) • Quotas to remedy past discrimination are constitutional. • Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995) • To be constitutional, affirmative action must be “narrowly tailored” to meet a “compelling governmental interest.” • Did not ban affirmative action, but severely limited its reach

19. Recent Controversies • Gay rights and Cracker Barrel • Cracker Barrel chain discriminated against homosexuals by requiring that employees exhibit “heterosexual values” on the job. • The restaurant adopted a new anti-discrimination policy that included protections for sexual orientation. • Wal-Mart • Gender discrimination: Claim that women were paid lower wages and offered fewer opportunities for advancement than males. • June 2004, a federal judge broadened the suit to include 1.6 million women in a class action law suit. • Ethnic origin discrimination: Claim by 9 illegal immigrants who worked as janitors that Wal-Mart paid them lower wages and gave them fewer benefits based on their ethnic origin. • Another group claimed that Wal-Mart knowingly hired illegal immigrants and in doing so violated the workers’ civil rights by refusing to pay Social Security and other wage compensation benefits.

20. 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.