1. Equality Before the Law

2. Equal Protection Clause  14 th Amendment  No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws  Meant to benefit newly freed slaves  Now means that States and local govt cannot draw unreasonable distinctions between any classes of people

3. Equal Protection Clause  Reasonable Classification  Govt must have the power to classify, draw distinctions between persons and groups  Govt must be able to discriminate– and it does  Ex. Bank robbers fall in a certain class and receive special treatment from law enforcement  Govt may not discriminate unreasonably  State taxes the sale of cigarettes  Taxes smokers but not non smokers  No state can only tax blonde smokers, or only male smokers

4. Segregation in America  In the late 1800s, half the states passed segregation laws  Segregation separation of one group from another  Jim Crow laws  Laws that separate people on basis of race– were aimed at African Americans  Required segregation by race in both public and private facilities  Separate But Equal  Plessy v. Ferguson 1896  Law did not violate the EPC because separate facilities were provided for African Americans and whites  Lasted for 60 years

5. Brown v. Board of Education  1954 Supreme Court struck down laws allowing separate schools for white and African American students.  Segregation by race in public schools is invalid.  State legislatures and school boards tried to block integration in the south  Integration is the process of bringing a group into the main stream of society

6. De Jure, De Facto Segregation  De jure segregation  Segregation by law, with legal sanction  Ex. Jim Crow Laws  De facto segregation  Segregation in fact, even if no laws requires it.  What we have today  Ex. Communities where people live in cities

7. Classification by Sex  Only reference to sex in the Constitution  19 th Amendment- denies the right to vote “on account of sex”  Classification by sex not unconstitutional  Intended to serve an important govt objective  Substantially related to achieving that goal  Ex. All male draft