Civil Rights : Equal Justice Under the Law

Chapter 21 Civil Rights : Equal Justice Under the Law

Heterogeneous Population • It’s predominantly white/Caucasian • The non-white population is growing more rapidly than the white population • There are more females than males

Discrimination • Minorities & Women have had problems achieving equality • African-Americans • The largest minority group in the U.S. • Hispanic children now outnumber African American children in the U.S. • African American are largely responsible for the gains of all minorities

Native Americans were the first group unjustly treated • Asian Americans • Chinese immigration was severely restricted for nearly 80 years due to racial discrimination • Today, Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the nation • Hispanic Americans • Hispanic Americans may be of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Central or South American descent • Hispanic Americans now make up the second largest minority group of Americans

Discrimination Against Women • Although women are the majority of the U.S. population, they have faced systemic discrimination • Although women’s suffrage and equal pay laws have been passed, women still do not hold positions of power in equal numbers with men nor do they earn as much as mean

Equality Before the Law • The Equal Protection Clause • 14th Amendment – Reed v Reed, 1971 • Facts of the Case: • The Idaho Probate Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing administrators of estates. After the death of their adopted son, both Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be named the administrator of their son's estate (the Reeds were separated). According to the Probate Code, Cecil was appointed administrator and Sally challenged the law in court.

Question: • Did the Idaho Probate Code violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? • Conclusion: • In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. The Court argued that "[t]o give a mandatory preference to members of either sex over members of the other, merely to accomplish the elimination of hearings on the merits, is to make the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. . .[T]he choice in this context may not lawfully be mandated solely on the basis of sex."

The Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment forbids Federal, State, and local government from drawing unreasonable distinctions between classes of persons • Reasonable Classifications – the government must have the power to draw reasonable distinctions between persons and groups. • Rational Basis Test – the rational basis test asks: Does the classification in question bear a reasonable relationship to the achievement of some proper government purpose?

The Strict Scrutiny Test – • In cases dealing with “fundamental rights”, such as the right to vote, or “suspect classifications”, such as those based on race or sex, the Supreme court imposes the strict scrutiny test • This test requires that the states prove that some “compelling governmental interest” justifies the distinctions it has drawn

Segregation in America • Plessy v Ferguson, 1896 established the Separate-but-Equal Doctrine. The Supreme Court upheld racial segregation by saying that segregated facilities for whites and African Americans were lawful as long as the separate facilities were equal: no effort was made to ensure that such facilities were in fact equal.

Facts • Plessy (P), 7/8 white and having white skin, attempted to sit in an all-white railroad car. After refusing to sit in the black railway carriage car, Plessy was arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana statute that provided for segregated “separate but equal” railroad accommodations. Those using facilities not designated for their race were criminally liable under the statute. • At trial with Justice John H. Ferguson (D) presiding, Plessy was found guilty on the grounds that the law was a reasonable exercise of the state’s police powers based upon custom, usage, and tradition in the state. Plessy filed a petition for writs of prohibition and certiorari in the Supreme Court of Louisiana against Ferguson, asserting that segregation stigmatized blacks and stamped them with a badge of inferiority in violation of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. The court found for Ferguson and the Supreme Court granted cert.

Issue • Can the states constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use “separate but equal” segregated facilities? • Holding and Rule (Brown) • Yes. The states can constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use “separate but equal” segregated facilities.

Brown v Board of Education, 1954 • The Court reversed itself, ruling that segregation was unconstitutional and must be ended “with all deliberate speed”. • Facts • This case is a consolidation of several different cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Several black children (through their legal representatives, Ps) sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segregation based on race. The plaintiffs alleged that segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. • In all but one case, a three judge federal district court cited Plessy v. Ferguson in denying relief under the “separate but equal” doctrine. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs contended that segregated schools were not and could not be made equal and that they were therefore deprived of equal protection of the laws.

Issue • Is the race-based segregation of children into “separate but equal” public schools constitutional? • Holding and Rule (Warren) • No. The race-based segregation of children into “separate but equal” public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is unconstitutional. • Segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race denies to black children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, even though the physical facilities and other may be equal. Education in public schools is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms…

Separating black children from others 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. The impact of segregation is greater when it has the sanction of law. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law tends to impede the educational and mental development of black children and deprives them of some of the benefits they would receive in an integrated school system. Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority and any language to the contrary in Plessy v. Ferguson is rejected.

The pace of desegregation quickened after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids the use of federal funds to aid any state or local activity in which racial segregation is practiced. • Two types of segregation, De Jure and De Facto Segregation • Once de jure segregation, or segregation by law, ended attention turned to schools that practiced de facto segregation, or segregation by fact which was often brought on by housing patterns in which concentrations of African Americans in some areas led to schools that were largely African American.

Classification by Sex • Until the last two decades, the Court allowed sex-based classifications on the belief that such classifications were for the protection of women • Today, sex is a “suspect classification”, and is only allowed in cases where the law is intended to serve an “important governmental objective” and is substantially related to achieving that goal

Federal Civil Rights Laws • Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today • No civil rights legislation was passed from 1870-1957. • Beginning in 1957, the following Civil Rights legislation was passed • Civil Rights Acts of • 1957 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968

Voting Rights Acts of • 1965 • 1970 • 1975 • 1982 • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • This is the most far-reaching of any Civil Rights legislation • This act prohibits discrimination in the workplace or in public accommodations

It also requires that federal funds be cut off from any program that discriminates against people on the grounds of • Race • Color • Religion • National origin • Sex • Physical disability

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 • Often called the Open Housing Act • It prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

Affirmative Action • Affirmative Action • is the Federal Government’s response to the issue of current problems suffered due to past discrimination; it requires employers to take positive steps to remedy the effects of past discrimination • Reverse Discrimination • Affirmative action programs necessarily involve race-based classifications – does this render them unconstitutional?

The Bakke Case – University of California v Bakke, 1978 • Alan Bakke, a white student, sued the University of California for reverse discrimination • The Court held that race should not be the only factor in making affirmative action decisions, but it can be considered.

The Weber Case – United Steel Workers v Weber 1979 • The Court upheld racial quotas in areas in which there has bee flagrant and longstanding discrimination • In 1987, the Court upheld preferential treatment on the basis of sex.

Facts of the Case: • The United Steelworkers of America and the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation implemented an affirmative action-based training program to increase the number of the company's black skilled craft workers. Half of the eligible positions in the training program were reserved for blacks. Weber, who was white, was passed over for the program. Weber claimed that he was the victim of reverse discrimination. These cases (United Steelworkers v. Weber and Kaiser Aluminum v. Weber) were also decided together with United States v. Weber.

Question: • Did United and Kaiser Aluminum's training scheme violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race? • Conclusion: • No. The Court held that the training scheme was legitimate because the 1964 Act "did not intend to prohibit the private sector from taking effective steps" to implement the goals of Title VII. Since the program sought to eliminate archaic patterns of racial segregation and hierarchy while not prohibiting white employees from advancing in the company, it was consistent with the intent of the law.

Recent developments • The more conservative Supreme Court of the 1980s and 1990s has set up stricter standards for those who wish to prove discrimination, placing the burden of proof on the employee rather than the employer • Congress rejected the Court’s stance by saying that any business practice that results in the unequal treatment of female or minority employees is permissible only if the employer can show that the practice is based on some legitimate business necessity.

American Citizenship • The Question of Citizenship • Until the Civil War, a person was considered a citizen of the U.S. if he or she was a citizen of one of the states • The 14th amendment finally set out a formal definition of citizenship by either birth or through a legal process called naturalization

Citizenship by Birth • Jus Soli • The Law of the Soil, or where one is born • Any person born on U.S. soil or vessels is automatically a citizen • Jus Sanguinas • The Law of the Blood or to whom one is born • Any child born to at least one parent who is a citizen and has lived in the U.S. is automatically a citizen

Citizenship by Naturalization • Individual naturalization • The law sets a number of requirements for permanent residents who wish to become citizens, including • Legal entry into the country • A 5-year period of residence • Literacy in the English language • Good moral character • Knowledge of American history and government

Adults who meet these requirements are required to file a petition for citizenship and take an oath renouncing allegiance to any foreign power and pledging allegiance to the U.S. • Collective naturalization is where whole groups of persons may be naturalized by a treaty or an act of Congress

Loss of Citizenship • Persons may renounce their citizenship through a process known as expatriation • Naturalized citizens may be denaturalized if it is found that they became citizens through fraud or deception

A Nation of Immigrants • The Regulation of Immigration • For a century after independence, Congress made no attempt to limit immigration • From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, various discriminatory laws prevented many groups from emigrating to the U.S.

Present Immigration Policies • Today there are not racial or nationality quotas on immigration • Preference is given to relatives of persons already living in the U.S. and to persons with special skills • Deportation • Aliens, unlike citizens are subject to deportation • Grounds for deportation include • Illegal entry into the country • Criminal conviction

Undocumented Aliens • Illegal immigration has become a major problem, with undocumented aliens undermining labor standards and burdening schools and public welfare systems • Congress granted amnesty to a large number of illegal aliens in 1986 and began a policy of punishing employers for knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

Civil Rights : Equal Justice Under the Law