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Equality and Civil Rights

Equality and Civil Rights. Civil liberties : freedoms guaranteed to the individual requiring federal restraint Tension: freedom & order

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Equality and Civil Rights

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  1. Equality 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

  2. Equality and Civil Rights • 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.

  3. Overview 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

  4. Overview 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

  5. Overview 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)

  6. Overview 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

  7. Overview 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

  8. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  9. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  10. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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)

  11. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  12. Overview of Race Discrimination • 1968: Fair Housing Act banned discrimination in housing • 1968: Riots broke out in 168 cities protesting King assassination

  13. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  14. Segregation • 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

  15. Affirmative 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

  16. Equality and Civil Rights • 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

  17. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  18. Overview of Race Discrimination • 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

  19. Equal 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)

  20. Hispanics • 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

  21. Native 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

  22. Disabled 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

  23. Gays 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

  24. Gays 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

  25. Women’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

  26. Women’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

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