Civil Rights Review AP GOV

Which of the following applications of affirmative action would the United States Supreme Court likely consider unconstitutional?

A state university refuses acceptance of any new applicants from a specific race.

A school district in Seattle used the race of students as a tie-breaking factor to determine which students would be admitted to the more popular schools in an attempt to maintain racial diversity. In the case Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007), the Supreme Court ruled this plan unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Which of the following statements offers the most accurate comparison between this case and the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ?

Both cases ruled against the school district based on the equal protection clause.

Discrimination in public accommodations was made illegal in the United States as a direct result of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964

To enforce the Fourteenth Amendment more clearly, Congress passed the

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Which of the following is true of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

It has been a major instrument for increasing the number of African American and other minority voters.

The doctrine of "separate by equal" referred to above had previously been upheld by which of the following Supreme Court decisions?

Plessy v Ferguson, 1896

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court established which of the following principles?

Separation of students by race, even in equally good schools, is unconstitutional.

Which of the following did the most to expand civil rights in the 1950's?

The Supreme Court decision declaring state-mandated school segregation to be unconstitutional

The clause of the United States Constitution that was used in the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was

The equal protection clause

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court stated that the plaintiffs "seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a non-segregated basis. In each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race." The Supreme Court ruled "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Which of the following provisions of the United States Constitution did the Supreme Court use to strike down racial segregation in state public schools?

The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

All of the following statements reflect positions the Supreme Court has taken with regard to the right of free speech EXCEPT:

There are no acceptable governmental restrictions on free speech.

The Supreme Court addressed the admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court, "in the context of its individualized inquiry into the possible diversity contributions of all applicants, the Law School's race-conscious admissions program does not unduly harm nonminority applicants." The primary issue of controversy in the Grutter v. Bollinger decision involves

affirmative action

The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 were all directed toward the goal of

equality for women

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was a significant Supreme Court ruling because it

held the "separate but equal" concept to be a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Jim Crow laws, still in place in the early 1960s in the South, were outlawed by the

passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Civil rights activists, such as those who campaign for gay and lesbian equal rights and those who advocated for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s, often find the most effective way to secure those rights is

through litigation in the courts to gain legal protections against discrimination

The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a significant political event because it

was instrumental in increasing the number of African American and other minority voters

The Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause declares that "No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In which of the following scenarios is this clause most likely to be used by the Supreme Court in its decision?

A local school district mandates racially segregated schools.

In the case Boynton v. Virginia (1960), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation at a bus stop restaurant was illegal based on the Interstate Commerce Act. Which of the following explains how this case is similar to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ?

Both cases struck down local ordinances that prescribed segregation.

In the case Guey Heung Lee v. Johnson (1971), the parents of Chinese American students who attended a primarily Asian American school challenged San Francisco's effort to desegregate the public schools, arguing that their culture and language would be diluted if their children were dispersed from their local school. The Supreme Court denied the challenge from the parents basing their decision on the Fourteenth Amendment. Which of the following cases was most likely used in the decision as a precedent?

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

In which case did the Supreme Court rule that "the doctrine of separate but equal has no place" in the Constitution?

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Which of the following scenarios best explains how the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has influenced political behavior?

Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., cited constitutional arguments as a basis for opposing segregation and inequality.

Writing for the court in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), a case weighing whether race can be considered in college admissions, Justice Lewis Powell wrote: "Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids. . . . The . . . goal asserted by petitioner is the attainment of a diverse student body. This clearly is a constitutionally permissible goal for an institution of higher education. . . . The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body." According to the quote, what is the likely effect of the Court's ruling in the Bakke case?

Colleges can consider race but cannot use strict racial quotas in admission practices.

Which of the following scenarios best explains the inclusion of Title IX as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 ?

Members of Congress added the amendment to the bill in response to social movements seeking to address inequality in education for women.

Which of the following was an argument used by the Supreme Court in upholding federal statutes outlawing segregation in public accommodations?

Such segregation affected interstate commerce, and Congress therefore had the authority to outlaw it.

Protection of the legal rights of women has been facilitated by the passage of which of the following?

The Equal Pay Act of 1963, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and The Education Amendments Act of 1972

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court ruling limited state action in segregating public school students based on their race, stating "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The Court pointed to which of the following amendments to the United States Constitution to achieve this ruling?

The Fourteenth Amendment

The United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was based on which of the following?

The Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection