9.3 Equality before the law

Segregation

Separation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences

Equal Protection Clause

14th amendment clause that prohibits states from denying equal protection under the law, and has been used to combat discrimination

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

rational basis test

A standard developed by the courts to test the constitutionality of a law; when applied, a law is constitutional as long as it meets a reasonable government interest.

Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)

Congress can draft men without drafting women.

Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977)

Court struck down an Alabama law forbidding women from serving as prison guards in all male prisons.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites.

Frontiero v. Richardson (1973)

Ruled that both male and female spouses of military service members receive equal benefits

Obergefell v. Hodges

States obligated to recognize same-sex marriage from other states.

Integration

The act of uniting or bringing together, especially people of different races.

separate but equal doctrine

The doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that African Americans could constitutionally be kept in separate but equal facilities

United States v. Virginia (1996)

Virginia Military Institute must admit women because VMI is supported by tax dollars no comparable alternative exists.