1. Civil Rights
Chapter Six

2. What are civil rights?
Protect certain groups against arbitrary discrimination.
Claims are raised when a group is denied access to facilities, opportunities, or services available to other groups.
The issue is whether differences in treatment are reasonable.

3. The Constitution and Inequality
Equality is not in the original Constitution.
First mention of equality in the 14th Amendment: “…equal protection of the laws”

4. Two Centuries of Struggle

5. Separate-But-Equal NAACP strategy went through a series of stages:
Step 1: obvious inequalities, addressed in 1938–1948 cases
Step 2: deciding that separation creates inequality in less obvious cases
Step 3: declaring that separation is inherently unequal - Brown v. Board of Education
NAACP: formed in 1909 by whites and blacks.
Regional strategy = you don’t have to change political opinions to win in court.

6. Brown v. Board of Education
Unanimous Supreme Court opinion overturned Plessy.
Segregation is detrimental; creates sense of inferiority in African American students.
The Court relied on social science, because the Fourteenth Amendment was not necessarily intended to abolish segregated schools, and the Court sought a unanimous opinion.
Overturned Plessy…
“separate but equal has no place”
Court relied on social science…
Could “affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to be undone”

7. Desegregation v. Integration
Desegregated: school that blacks and whites were free to attend if they chose.
Integrated: school that blacks and whites attended whether they wanted to or not.
Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg (1971): remedies may include racial quotas, redrawn district lines, and court-ordered busing.
Inter-city busing could be authorized only if both the city and the suburbs had practiced segregation
Busing remains controversial
Doug…Milwaukee Tech

8. The Campaign for Civil Rights
Sit-ins and freedom rides, voter registration efforts.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks—Montgomery bus boycott.
From nonviolent civil disobedience to the “long, hot summers” of racial violence (1964–1968).
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-6)

9. Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation, vols. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8.
Figure 6.2: Growing Support Among Southern Democrats in Congress for Civil Rights Bills
Insert figure 6.2 (formerly 19.2 in 9e)
Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation, vols. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8.

10. Gender-Based Discrimination
Reasonableness standard versus strict scrutiny.
Court chooses a blend—more than reasonable but not as much as strict scrutiny.
Some gender-based differences are allowed by courts.
Reasonableness
Treatment must be reasonable and not arbitrary.
Applying statutory rape laws t men, but not women.
P.141…legal/illegal
Strict Scrutiny
Drawing distinctions between different groups of people are inherently suspect, and subject to strict scrutiny.
Treating blacks and white differently
Reed v. Reed
Idaho
Males cannot be preferred over females when administering estate of children.

11. Women, the Constitution, and Public Policy
Women in the Workplace
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned gender discrimination in employment.
Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth
The Supreme Court has not ruled on this issue.
Women in the Military
Only men may be drafted or serve in ground combat.
Sexual Harassment
Prohibited by Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth
Supreme Court has not ruled on this issue, leading to an Act of Congress…
Lilly Ledbetter Act (2009)
President Obama’s first bill signing
(See notes in binder on Lilly Ledbetter and Supreme Court)

12. Sexual Harassment
Quid pro quo: sexual favors are required as a condition for holding a job or for promotion; employers are strictly liable.
Hostile environment: creating a setting in which harassment impairs a person’s ability to work; employers are liable if they were negligent.

13. Privacy and Sex
Regulating sexual matters is traditionally a state function, under the exercise of the police powers.
In 1965, Supreme Court held that states could not prevent the sale of contraceptives, because that violated the zone of privacy.
Police Powers
State power to create laws designed to promote public order and secure the safety and morals of citizens.
Zone of Privacy
Privacy is not mentioned in the Constitution
Inferred in the Bill of Rights

14. Abortion
Roe v. Wade: struck down a Texas ban on abortion (and all similar state laws).
Woman’s freedom to choose is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment
Privacy implied in the Bill of Rights
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989): The Court upheld some restrictions on abortions.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision (1992): does not overturn Roe but permits more restrictions: 24-hour wait, parental consent, pamphlets about alternatives.
FIRST THREE MONTHS ABORTION IS AN UNFETTERED RIGHT.
SECOND TRIMESTER = states can regulate, but only to protect the mother’s health.
THIRD TRIMESTER = states may ban. Court says it is NOT deciding when human life begins.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
Reagan is president.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
O’Connor, Souter, and Kennedy are the key votes.
Ironically, Reagan nominated O’Connor and Kennedy thinking that they would overturn Roe.

15. Affirmative Action
Affirmative action: preferential hiring and admission practices to remedy discrimination.
Regents of the Univ. of CA v. Bakke (1978): numerical minority quotas are not permissible, but race can be considered.
Affirmative Action
Not enough to give rights, must give benefits too
To help reflect the cultural diversity of the nation.
Equality of Results (Americans aren’t so sure about this one)
Making certain that people achieve the same result.
Equality of Opportunity (Americans tend to agree on this one)
Giving people the same chance to succeed.
Reverse Discrimination??
Preferential treatment to certain groups.

16. Affirmative Action
Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995)—any racial classification is subject to strict scrutiny.
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) – overturned a University of Michigan admissions policy that gave “bonus points” to Black, Hispanic and Native American applicants to the undergraduate program.
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) upheld a University of Michigan Law School admissions policy that used race as a “plus factor” but not as part of a numerical quota.

17. Newly Active Groups Under the Civil Rights Umbrella
Civil Rights and the Graying of America
Age classifications not suspect category, but fall under rational basis test.
Civil Rights and People with Disabilities
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Requiring employers and public facilities to make “reasonable accommodations” for those with disabilities
Prohibits employment discrimination against the disabled

18. Gay and Lesbian Rights
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986): Georgia was allowed to ban homosexual sexual activity.
Romer v. Evans (1996): Colorado voters had adopted state constitutional amendment making it illegal to protect persons based on gay, lesbian or bisexual orientation; the Court overturns it.
Lawrence v. Texas (2003): The Court overturned a Texas law banning sexual conduct between persons of the same sex.