Using the Courts to further the Cause

1. Using the Courts to further the Cause OBJECTIVE: To analyze how the decisions of the court played a role in the expansion of civil liberties.

2. Wisconsin v. Yoder - 1972 • Supreme Court ruled that Amish children could not be forced to go to school past the 8th Grade • Freedom of Religion superseded the states desire to educate all students

3. Turn and Talk • Roberto Alvarez v. Board of Trustees of Lemon Grove School District, 1930 • http://youtu.be/92DiTCecPlk • As you watching the video, answer the following questions: • When was this case brought before the Supreme Court? • What issue was brought before the Supreme Court? • What connections can we make to information we learned in previous units?

4. Mendez v. Westminster - 1946 • This case challenged racial segregation in schools in California. • Students who did not speak English were placed in separate “Mexican schools” • Court ruled that segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into separate “Mexican schools” was unconstitutional.

6. Delgado v. BastropISD - 1948 • The public education system in Texas for Mexican Americans offered segregated campuses with poorer facilities and limited students to vocationaltraining • LULAC and the American G.I. Forum helped challenge these segregation laws • Court ruled Texas has to endsegregation of Mexican American students but did allow separate classrooms on the same campus.

7. Hernandez v. Texas - 1954 • No person with a Spanish surname allowed to serve on jury. • Hernandez was convicted and said he did not receive due process under 14th amendment • Texas argued that Mexican Americans were white, so he received fair trial. • Supreme Court said there was a difference between white and Hispanic and you could notexclude from a jury based on class.

10. White v. Regester - 1964 • Challenged redistricting in Texas, which kept Mexican Americans from being elected • Supreme Court ruled that at large elections were discriminatory and so unconstitutional • Created single-member districts • After the Supreme Court decision the number of African American and Hispanic American representatives doubled.

12. EdgewoodISD v. Kirby - 1984 • Public schoolfinance case – no equal funding • Since funding was based on property tax – areas with lower property values received less tax dollars • Court ruled legislature would have to change the way it fundedschools to make it moreequal. • ROBIN HOOD – Money is taken from richerschools and given to poorerschools.

13. Other Landmark Civil Rights Cases • Hernandez v. Driscoll Consolidated ISD, 1948 • Ended all pedagogical and de jure segregation in Texas Public Education • Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD, 1970 • Recognized Hispanics as an identifiable minority group and so used the Brown decision to prohibit segregation in public schools for Mexican Americans • Plyler v. Doe, 1982 • Allowed for children of illegal immigrants to receive a public education in grade K-12