14 th Amendment

1. 14th Amendment Defining Equal Protection in a Democratic Society

2. Warm Up • Does treating people equally mean treating them the same? • What would it mean to treat people equally in the following situations? • A man and a woman apply for a job as a shoe sales person. What would the employer have to do to treat these two applicants equally? • Two patients come to a doctor with a headache. The doctor determines that one patient has a brain tumor and the other patient has a run-of-the mill headache. What would the doctor have to do to treat these two patients equally? • Two students try to enter a school that has stairs leading to the entrance. One student is handicapped and the other is not. What would the school have to do to treat these two students equally? • Two students live in the same school district. The students are the same age, but they are different races. What does the school district have to do to treat these two students equally?

3. The 14th Amendment • 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. …. • nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

4. Are either of these equal protection? • De facto segregation –segregation by law • De jure segregation –segregation by custom

5. Two Interpretations of Equal Protection • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS • Original intent of the 14th amendment was integration • Plessey v. Ferguson, 1896 • “Separate but equal” • 50 years of de jure segregation

6. Equal Protection after Brown v. Board Take a few minutes to discuss with a partner: • Why would parents want to send their children to a neighborhood school? An integrated school? • Which type of school would you prefer to attend? • Is a neighborhood school necessarily segregated?

7. Swann v. CMS, 1971 Education after Brown • U.S. Supreme Court • Swann family & other parents sued CMS for not effectively integrating public schools • Even w/Brown decision, blacks confined to poor neighborhood schools • Black students were bussed to wealthier white schools, whites were not integrated into predominantly black schools • Court ruled that when de jure segregation exists, both black and white students need to be bussed

8. Education in NC after Swann • NC Supreme Court • Leandro v. State, 1994 • Leandro other plaintiffs sued the state of NC for not helping poor counties with enough funding to provide an equal education • Court ruled that people have the right to a “sound basic education,” not one of equal monetary value • It is up to the counties to collect revenue to support schools & make the necessary expenditures for education

9. Essential Questions to answer • Determine how the 14th Amendment limits those who govern • Determine how the 14th Amendment limits those who are governed • Determine what equal protections are guaranteed by the Amendment

10. Exit Ticket • What is the Equal Protection Clause? • How has the Equal Protection Clause’s interpretation been changed over the years through the different court cases?