Constitutional Freedoms

1
Constitutional Freedoms

• Civil Rights

2
Introduction

• Civil Rights
• Policies designed to protect people against
  arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by
  government officials or individuals.
• Types of Discrimination and classification
• Racial Discrimination strict scrutiny
• Gender Discrimination medium scrutiny
• Discrimination based on age or disability
  rational-basis level of scrutiny

3
Equality in America

• Conceptions of Equality
• Equal opportunity (same chances) vs. equal
  results (same rewards)
• Early American Views of Equality
• The Declaration of Independence vs. the US
  Constitution
• Equality is not in the original Constitution
• First mention of equality in the 14th Amendment
  equal protection of the laws

4
Race and the Constitution

• Slavery and the Constitution
• Reference to free and all other Persons in
  Article I, Section 2
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction The Constitution and Equality
• 13th Amendment end to slavery
• 14th Amendment equal protection clause
• 15th Amendment right to vote

5
Race and the Constitution

• Resegregation
• The Civil Rights Cases
• Congress does not have the authority to restrict
  actions of private individuals
• Jim Crow laws
• Loop holes designed to deny civil rights
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Declares inequality constitutional again, by
  declaring separate but equal

6
The Civil Rights Era

• Moving toward desegregation
• Harry Truman desegregates the US Armed Forces
  after WWII
• Leads to split in Democratic Party
• The Supreme Court whittles away at Plessy through
  law school/college cases
• Segregation is declared unconstitutional
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Court ordered integration and busing of students
  to follow

7
Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Made racial discrimination illegal in employment,
  public accommodation, and housing
• Upheld by Supreme Court through Commerce Clause
  of Article I
• Enforced by Civil Rights Division of Department
  of Justice through lawsuits
• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity
  Commission (EEOC)
• Monitors and enforces bans on employment
  discrimination

8
The Right to Vote

• Suffrage The legal right to vote
• Extended to African Americans through the 15th
  Amendment
• But Jim Crow loop holes precluded the right to
  vote for a century
• Voting Rights Act of 1965

9
The Right to Vote

• Loop holes and their closing
• Poll Taxes Small taxes used to pay for
  elections- if you paid them, you could vote.
• 24th Amendment Eliminated poll taxes for federal
  elections
• Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections
  (1966) eliminates poll taxes for state elections
• White Primary Only whites were allowed to vote
  in the party (Democratic) primaries.
• Smith v. Alwright (1944) ended white primaries

10
Women and the Constitution

• History of gender discrimination
• The Right to Vote
• 19th Amendment (1920) Extends suffrage to women
• Gender equality through the Civil Rights Act of
  1964
• Title IX Institutions of higher education that
  receive federal funds cannot discriminate against
  female students

11
Gender Discrimination

• Equal Rights and the Courts
• Reed v. Reed (1971) arbitrary discrimination
  based on gender unconstitutional
• Craig v Boren (1976) limits scope of gender
  discriminationgender not a suspect category
• Women in the Workplace
• Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth equal
  pay for equal work
• Sexual Harassment a violation of the Civil
  Rights Act of 1964
• Equal Rights Amendment

12
Other Civil Rights Groups

• The Elderly
• Not a suspect category, but they vote!
• What about Youth?
• Nopecivil liberties generally not extended
• The Disabled ADA of 1990
• All tend to be rational-basis

13
Other Civil Rights Groups

• Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
• Private Acts
• Bowers v Hardwick (1986) private homosexual acts
  not protected
• Texas v Lawrence (2003)
• Overturned Bowers
• Private homosexual acts protected
• Same-sex Marriage
• Defense of Marriage Act
• Constitutional Amendment
• State amendments

14
Affirmative Action

• Early Affirmative Action
• A policy designed to give special attention to or
  compensatory treatment for members of some
  previously disadvantaged group.
• Kennedy and Johnson
• United Steelworkers of America v. Weber (1979)
• Set-asides are constitutional

15
Affirmative Action in Workplace

• City of Richmond v. Croson
• Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995)
• To be constitutional, affirmative action must be
  narrowly tailored to meet a compelling
  governmental interest
• In short, quotas and racial set-asides to redress
  past discrimination are now unconstitutional.
• Violation of 14th Amendments Equal Protection
  Clause and Civil Rights Act of 1964

16
Affirmative Action in Education

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
  (1978)
• Racial set-asides are unconstitutional
• Race may be considered a plus in college
  admissions
• Hopwood
• Race may NOT be considered in college admissions,
  not even as a plus
• State of Texas top-10-percent rule

17
Affirmative Action Today

• University of Michigan considers race in
  admissions
• Grutter v. Bollinger
• Upholds Bakke race may be considered a part of
  entire application a plus
• Why? Government has compelling interest to
  promote diversity
• Thus, affirmative action today is constitutional
  and not a redress for past discrimination, but is
  important to promote diversity.

18
Summary

• Civil Rights are policies designed to protect
  individuals from arbitrary discrimination by
  government and others.
• The history of civil rights encompasses the
  entirety of US history.
• From race to the elderly, civil rights
  protections have increased since the 1960s.