Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights Equal Protection Under the Law

2. Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished. • 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. • 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation • Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. • 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. • Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote. • 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Civil War Amendments

3. All laws discriminate because they include certain people, but not others • People have looked to the government to help answer what is fair and to provide a basic American principle of equality of opportunity to all people • The purpose of civil rights principles is to use government to give equality a more substantive meaning • People, however, are less committed to equality of outcome, but some groups do look for that help Discrimination law

4. The Supreme Court was not ready for enforcing the civil rights implied in the 14th Amendment (of course many of the Court members were state rights’ appointees • The Court strikes down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 because the law dealt with private businesses and the 14th Amendment applied to public officials and facilities • Justice Harlan dissented arguing this decision would allow for wide spread segregation and take away rights, whites took for granted Post Civil War

5. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Homer Plessy (who was 1/8th black) refused to sit in the blacks only section of train and fined $25 • The Court ruled that “although the 14th Amendment was supposed to enforce the equality of the two races before the law, it could not have intended to abolish distinction based on color, or to enforce…a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either” • Justice Harlan dissented, writing “The Constitution is color-blind” and predicted the development of the Jim Crow laws

6. The outcome of Plessy was the creation of the Jim Crow laws and the NAACP • The NAACP decides the only way to beat Plessy was through the Courts by getting the law on their side • NAACP greatly helped by Charles Hamilton Houston who was head of the NAACP legal department for 20 years, Dean of Howard Law School and trained many of the civil rights lawyers of the 1960s, including Thurgood Marshall Jim Crow

7. Legal team wins a 1938 case declaring a University of Missouri rule unconstitutional to pay for black students to attend law school out of state • In 1950, the Supreme Court ruled that the UT Negro Law School was unconstitutional because it isn’t just the facilities that make a good education • Also in 1950, the Court ruled in the McLaurin case that his treatment at the University of Oklahoma was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment • In several southern states, NAACP successfully fights for equal pay of Negro teachers to their white counterparts • All of these victories build precedent for the Brown case and forced the Court to wonder if any segregated facility could be equal The Road to Brown

8. Court ruled 9-0 that the states did not have the power to use race as a criterion for discrimination • Chief Justice Warren writes: “To separate [children] solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” • This case signals that the Courts would using the strict scrutiny test more forcefully placing the burden of proof on the government to show why the law in question is constitutional • Court also calls for a panel to meet in 1955 at which time the Court declares that schools must desegregate with “all deliberate speed” Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

9. Reaction South refused to desegregate except on own terms Also, difficult to desegregate Brown case ended de jure (by law) segregation, but could not end de facto such as housing settlements (although facilitated by de jure segregation) Ten years after decision, less than 1% of all schools were integrated and the court was unable to force schools to comply The Brown case becomes the main starting point of the Civil Rights Movement which ends with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

10. The Act attacked several areas of discrimination • Public accommodations-all public places can not discriminate because of race and federal government given authority to file lawsuits and attack those place that do • This part of Act still creates controversy, where is the governments authority to pass such legislation (hint: interstate commerce, see Heart of Atlanta case) • School desegregation-authorizes the Justice Department to implement court orders to integrate schools or the executive can withhold federal grants • Allowed for the busing of students to help in integration, but Court has recently backed off of this method • Title VII outlawed all job discrimination based on race and sex (this was added as joke, but passed) and created the EEOC and allows government to bring suits against companies Civil Rights Act of 1964

11. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was passed to provide education and training to help combat poverty • The 24th Amendment was ratified abolishing poll taxes • Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed that barred literacy tests for voting and helped encourage equal voter participation; protecting voter rights has been one of the most effective of all the civil rights legislation • Included preclearance, section V • Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 prohibiting discrimination in the sale and rental of housing • Affirmative Action-policies seeking to redress past injustices against specified groups by making special efforts to provide members of these groups equal opportunities More Civil Rights victories

12. What is the appropriate level of Affirmative Action? • Where is the line drawn between qualification vs. minority preference? • In University of California v. Bakke (1978) the Supreme Court ruled that while schools should have a diverse student body, race can not be the sole criteria to admission • Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) the Court ruled that the admissions practice of giving 20 points (1/5 the points needed for admission) to underrepresented groups violated the 14th Amendment and was unconstitutional, but they did not rule against affirmative action itself • Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education (2007) the Court ruled that a public school district’s plan to integrate its by establishing a “quota” system in schools that required the student body to have no less than 15% to no more than 50% minority students violated the equal protection of the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the plurality opinion that "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Debate over Affirmative Action

13. Conservative • American rights are individual rights and affirmative action concerns itself with groups rights • Quota systems violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution • They follow the adage that the “constitution is color-blind” • Affirmative Action creates reverse discrimination and it is not the governments job to solve societies problems • Liberal • They agree our rights are individual, but when a group is systematically deprived access to something then government must step in protect those rights • They also agree that some rights may get pushed aside for the group, but the overall goal is the important thing • Some liberals do agree that affirmative action is undemocratic and hasn’t achieved its intended goal Two sides of Affirmative Action

14. Ricci v. Stefano (2009) • Does a city violate Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause when a valid civil service exam unintentionally prevent the promotion of minority candidates? • Sotomayor had decided in favor of the city at the appeals level • A 5-4 Court ruled that there is no evidence to show that the tests were flawed and that fear of litigation cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the exams and qualified for promotions Recent cases

15. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) • In a 5-4 decision, Court strikes down Section 4 and effectively Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2013) • A 7-1 decision that sends the case back to the Appeals Court because they didn’t apply strict scrutiny test Recent Decisions

16. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened the door for other minority groups to fight against discrimination • Title VII spawned the women's movement along with the establishment of NOW, WEAL and the publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique • Feminist activities also pushed for and Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, but by 1982 the proposal had come 3 states short of the 38 needed for ratification Rights of Others: Women

17. The women’s movement has been helped by the Equal Pay Act which prohibits paying wages based on gender-”equal pay for equal work” • Lilly Ledbetter Paycheck Fairness Act (2009) closes loopholes from 1963 act and overturns Supreme Court decision requiring people 180 days to file a claim of wage discrimination from first paycheck; puts burden on employer to explain discrimination is not based on sex Women continued

18. Consider this: • In this 1960s, a women had to have better grades than men to get into most colleges • At the University of Virginia, 21,000 females were denied admission, but not a single man • 2 women a year accepted into Cornell veterinary school • In 1975, University of Michigan had a $1.4 million budget for all athletics, nothing went to women’s sports…the girls sold apples at football games and carpooled to events, women gymnasts reused tape the men’s team saved for them • Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 prohibits gender discrimination in education and requires equal funding and opportunities for athletic programs or risk losing federal funding, as a result many universities have had to cut successful men’s programs to comply with Title IX lawsuits Women’s rights continued

19. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred discrimination base on race, but not on language which has hurt this group from full acceptance • Lau v. Nichols (1974), however, mandated that schools must provide ESL classes for those not English proficient • Voting Rights of 1970 also helped by requiring bilingual ballots or oral assistance to voting • Cesar Chavez formed the National Farm Workers Association to fight for better pay and worker conditions • Some feel that Asian Americans don’t need help because they have assimilated well into American society and are one of the most successful minority groups in the country Latinos and Asian Americans

20. Make up 1% of the American population • In recent years Native American groups have tried to get what the government has promised them, primarily money (the Department of Interior was sued for $10 billion in “lost” revenues • As a group they have the highest rates of unemployment, lowest life expectancy and highest rate of alcoholism • Casinos help some tribes, but not all • One problem is this group is too small and spread out to exert political pressure • After Wounded Knee, Lakota awarded $105 million dollars by Supreme Court in 1980, they refused money for land instead—today the offer is $830 million Native Americans

21. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 makes it illegal for discriminating against those with disabilities, which led to the founding of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund • Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 guarantees equal employment rights and access to public businesses for the disabled • 1967 federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes discrimination in workplace illegal, but not in hiring • 65 no longer means retirement, and many Americans have to work to still make ends meet Disabled and Aged Americans