9.3 Equality Before the Law

de facto segregation

racial separation established by practice and custom, not by law

de jure segregation

segregation by law

segregation

separation of one group from another

Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education

"Delays in desegregating school systems are no longer tolerable"

Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada

-Canada, an admissions officer, refused admission to Gaines on the basis of race to law school

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.

Equal protection

A clause that is part of the 14th Amendment stating that "no state shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Protected an individual from not only federal laws, but also at the state level.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A federal law that authorized federal action against segregation in public accommodations, public facilities, and employment.

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.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

separate but equal

Plessy v. Ferguson

Sweatt v. Painter

Sweatt was denied admittance to Texas Law School because of his race. Result: SC ruled that the school had to let him in because the separate facility for negroes was not even close to equal. - 14th A.

discriminate

distinguish; make distinctions on the basis of preference

strict scrutiny test

a higher standard than the rational basis test a law must meet in equal protection cases

Loving v. Virginia

a landmark civil rights Supreme Court case that invalidated the law prohibiting interracial marriage

McLaurin v. Oklahoma

cannot be kept separate from white students without equal facilities

Obergefell v. Hodges

challenged constitutionality of state bans on gay marriage; legalized gay marriage in US

integration

desegregation