Political Science American Government and Politics Today

1
Political Science American Government
andPolitics Today

• Chapter 5
• Civil Rights Equal Protection

2
Civil Rights

• All rights rooted in the Fourteenth Amendments
  guarantee of equal protection under the law
• what the government must do to ensure equal
  protection
• what the government must do to ensure freedom
  from discrimination

3
The Constitution and Slavery

• In apportioning congressional representation
  based on population, the constitution refers to
  free persons and other persons (or slaves)
• For purposes of representation, a slave was equal
  to 3/5 of a free person
• Supreme Court confirms constitutionality of
  slavery in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1847)

4
The Civil War Amendments

• Thirteenth Amendment (1865) neither slavery nor
  involuntary servitude shall exist in the United
  States
• Fourteenth Amendment (1868) all persons born or
  naturalized in the United State are citizens

5
The Civil War Amendments (cont.)

• states cannot abridge the privileges or
  immunities of citizens
• all persons (whether or not they are citizens)
  are entitled to due process
• all persons are entitled to equal protection
• Fifteenth Amendment (1870) the right to vote
  shall not be denied because of race, color or
  previous condition of servitude

6
Key Points of the Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to
1875

• The First Civil Rights Act
• extended citizenship to anyone born in the United
  States
• gave African Americans full equality before the
  law
• authorized the president to enforce the act
  through use of force
• The Enforcement Act of 1870
• set out specific penalties for interfering with
  the right to vote

7
Key Points of the Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to
1875 (cont.)

• The Anti-Ku Klux Klan Act (1872)
• made it a federal crime to deprive an individual
  of his or her rights
• The Second Civil Rights Act (1875)
• everyone is entitled to equal enjoyment of public
  accommodation and places of public amusement
• imposed penalties for violators

8
The Civil Rights Act were nullified (rendered
void) through

• The Civil Rights Cases (1883)
• the Supreme Court rules that the 14th amendment
  only prevents official discriminatory acts by
  states, not by private individuals

9
The Civil Rights Act were nullified (rendered
void) (cont.)

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• stated that segregation did not violate the 14th
  amendment
• established the separate-but-equal doctrine
• paved the way constitutionally for a system of
  racial segregation developed, especially in the
  South

10
Barriers to voting by African Americans

• the white primary a state primary election in
  which only whites may vote
• allowed because Southern politicians claimed
  political parties were private entities
• was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1944 (Smith
  v. Allwright)

11
Barriers to voting by African Americans (cont.)

• grandfather clause restricting voting to
  individuals who could prove that their
  grandfathers had voter prior to 1867
• was used to exempt whites from poll taxes
• was used to exempt whites from literacy tests
• poll taxes required the payment of a fee to
  vote

12
Barriers to voting by African Americans (cont.)

• intended to disenfranchise poor African Americans
• was outlawed in national elections by the 24th
  amendment
• was outlawed in all elections by the Supreme
  Court in 1966
• literacy tests -- required potential voters to
  read, recite or interpret complicated texts
• intended to disenfranchise African Americans

13
Ending Legal Segregation

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
  Supreme Court rules public school segregation
  violates the 14th amendment
• overturns Plessy v. Ferguson
• Brown v. Board of Education (1955) orders
  desegregation with all deliberate speed
• Court ordered busing transporting African
  American children to white schools and white
  children to African American schools

14
Modern Civil Rights Legislation

• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• forbade discrimination on the basis of race,
  color, religion, gender and national origin in
• voter registration
• public accommodations
• public schools

15
Modern Civil Rights Legislation- (cont.)

• expanded the power of the Civil Rights Commission
• withheld funds from programs administered in a
• discriminatory way
• established the right to equality of opportunity
  in employment (created the EEOC)
• Civil Rights Act of 1968
• forbade discrimination in housing

16
Modern Civil Rights Legislation (cont.)

• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• outlawed discriminatory voter registration tests
• authorized federal registration and
  administration of voting where discrimination
  took place
• resulted in massive voter registration drives of
  African Americans in the South

17
Womens Struggle for Equal Rights

• Womens Suffrage Movement
• was connected to the abolition movement
• suffragists organized the first womens right
  convention at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848
• established womens suffrage associations
• finally won passage of the Nineteenth Amendment
  in 1920

18
Womens Struggle for Equal Rights (cont.)

• The Modern Womens Movement
• spurred in by the publication of Betty Friedans
  The Feminine Mystique ( 1963)
• connected to the Civil Rights Movement of the
  1960s
• argued for ratification of the Equal Rights
  Amendment
• failed to win the necessary states for
  ratification

19
Womens Struggle for Equal Rights (cont.)

• has targeted gender discrimination by challenging
  policies and laws in federal courts
• has advocated and encouraged an increasingly
  prominent role for women in government and
  politics

20
Gender Based Discrimination in the Work Place

• gender discrimination any practice, policy or
  procedure that denies equality of treatment to an
  individual or group because of gender
• prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
  of 1964
• applies even to protective policies, policies
  designed to protect women of child-bearing age

21
Gender Based Discrimination in the Work Place
(Cont.)

• sexual harassment unwanted physical or verbal
  conduct or abuse of a sexual nature that
• interferes with a recipients job performance
• OR
• creates a hostile environment
• OR
• carries and implicit or explicit threat of
  adverse employment consequences

22
Gender Based Discrimination in the Work Place
(cont.)

• wage discrimination women earn 76 cents for
  every 1.00 earned by men
• the glass ceiling the phenomenon of women
  holding few of the top positions in professions
  or businesses

23
Affirmative Action

• a policy in educational admissions or job hiring
• gives special consideration or compensatory
  treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups
• is an effort to overcome present effects of past
  discrimination

24
Obstacles to Affirmative Action

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
  (1978) a reverse discrimination case the
  Supreme Court ruled that using race as the sole
  criterion for admission to a university is
  improper
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (1995) -
  Affirmative action programs cannot use quotas for
  unqualified persons

25
Obstacles to Affirmative Action (cont.)

• The Supreme Court let the decision stand in
  Hopwood v. State of Texas (1996) a federal
  appellate court ruled that the use of race as a
  means of achieving racial diversity undercuts the
  14th amendment
• California Proposition 209 ended all
  state-sponsored affirmative action programs in
  the state

26
Elderly Population by Age
27
Special Protection for Older Americans

• Population Projections
• Attempts to Protect Older Americans
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
  prohibits discrimination on the basis of age
  unless age is shown to be a bona fide
  occupational qualification
• Mandatory Retirement is prohibited in most
  occupation by an amendment to the ADEA (1978)

28
Securing Rights for Persons with Disabilities

• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• requires all public buildings and services be
  accessible to persons with disabilities
• requires employers make reasonable accommodations
  for people with disabilities
• defines disabilities as physical or mental
  impairments that substantially limit everyday
  activities
• In Bragdon v. Abbott (1998) the Supreme Court
  ruled that an HIV infection falls under the
  protection of the ADA

29
The Rights and Status of Gay Males and Lesbians

• in decades past, most states had anti-sodomy laws
• most laws now have been repealed
• the Supreme Court upheld a law in Bowers v.
  Hardwick (1986) that made homosexual conduct
  between two adults a crime

30
The Rights and Status of Gay Males and Lesbians
(cont.)

• in Romer v. Evans (1986) the Supreme Court ruled
  that a Colorado amendment that invalidated state
  laws protecting homosexuals violated the equal
  protection clause
• now 11 states and 165 municipalities have laws
  that protect gay men and lesbians from
  discrimination

31
The Gay Community and Politics

• Gay Men and Lesbians in the Military
• 1993 Clinton administration policy was
  characterized as dont ask, dont tell
• Supreme Court will likely rule on the issue
• Same-sex marriages
• the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that denying
  marriage licenses to gay couples might violate
  the equal protection clause of the state
  constitution

32
The Gay Community and Politics (cont.)

• in a referendum, voters in Hawaii opposed
  allowing same-sex marriages
• the Vermont legislature has passed a law allowing
  same-sex civil unions
• Child Custody and Adoption
• courts now no longer deny custody or visitation
  to persons solely on the basis of sexual
  orientation

33
The Rights and Status of Juveniles

• parents are viewed as protectors of childrens
  rights
• the 26th amendment grants 18 - 21 year olds the
  right to vote
• most contracts entered into by minors cannot be
  enforced
• parents can be held liable for minors negligent
  actions

34
The Rights and Status of Juveniles (cont.)

• minors are sometimes viewed as incapable of
  criminal intent
• when minors are tried as adults, they are
  afforded the same protections, but are subject to
  adult penalties (including the death penalty)