Chapter 15
In 1954, the Immigration and Naturalization Service began a program known as
"operation wetback" through which hundred of thousands of immigrants were forcibly deported, sometimes, with their U.S. born children.
In 1986 the court applied the Act to
"quid pro quo" sexual favors from a person as a condition of employment. It also forbids a hostile environment.
In 2012, the Supreme Court did uphold the
"show me your papers" provision requiring state law enforcement officers to check immigration status of individuals or detain for a legitimate purpose.
In a constitutional democracy citizenship is an
office that comes with certain powers and responsibilities.
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.
A suspect classification is one through which
people have been deliberately subjected to severely unequal treatment or that society has used to render people politically powerless.
The Indian Removal Act, passed in 1830,
required that all Native American tribes be moved from the East to Southeast.
In Smith v. Allwright,
the court declared the white primary unconstitutional.
The due process clause applies only to the actions of
the governments, not to those of private individuals. If a private person performs a discriminatory action, that action does not violate the Constitution. Instead, it may violate federal and state laws passed to protect people from unjust discrimination by private parties.
The Supreme Court uses three tests for the purpose of constitutional classification:
the rational basis test, the strict scrutiny test and the test heightened scrutiny test.
strict scrutiny test
A test applied by the court when a classification is based on race; the government must show that there is a compelling reason for the law and no other less restrictive way to meet the interest.
U.S. vs. Morrison-
In 1994, while enrolled at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), Christy Brzonkala alleged that Antonio Morrison and James Crawford, both students and varsity football players at Virginia Tech, raped her. In 1995, Brzonkala filed a complaint against Morrison and Crawford under Virginia Tech's Sexual Assault Policy. After a hearing, Morrison was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced to immediate suspension for two semesters. Crawford was not punished. A second hearing again found Morrison guilty. After an appeal through the university's administrative system, Morrison's punishment was set aside, as it was found to be "excessive." Ultimately, Brzonkala dropped out of the university. Brzonkala then sued Morrison, Crawford, and Virginia Tech in Federal District Court, alleging that Morrison's and Crawford's attack violated 42 USC section 13981, part of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), which provides a federal civil remedy for the victims of gender-motivated violence. Morrison and Crawford moved to dismiss Brzonkala's suit on the ground that section 13981's civil remedy was unconstitutional. In dismissing the complaint, the District Court found that that Congress lacked authority to enact section 13981 under either the Commerce Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment, which Congress had explicitly identified as the sources of federal authority for it. Ultimately, the Court of Appeals affirmed. The court ruled that Congress did not have the authority to enact the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 under either the Commerce Clause or Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that Congress lacked the authority to enact a statute under the Commerce Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment since the statute did not regulate an activity that substantially affected interstate commerce nor did it redress harm caused by the state. The sections exceeded congressional power under the Commerce Clause and under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Grutter v. Bollinger-
In 1997, Barbara Grutter, a white resident of Michigan, applied for admission to the University of Michigan Law School. Grutter applied with a 3.8 undergraduate GPA and an LSAT score of 161. She was denied admission. The Law School admits that it uses race as a factor in making admissions decisions because it serves a "compelling interest in achieving diversity among its student body." The District Court concluded that the Law School's stated interest in achieving diversity in the student body was not a compelling one and enjoined its use of race in the admissions process. The court ruled that the University of Michigan Law School's use of racial preferences in student admissions did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Court reasoned that, because the Law School conducts highly individualized review of each applicant, no acceptance or rejection is based automatically on a variable such as race and that this process ensures that all factors that may contribute to diversity are meaningfully considered alongside race.
racial gerrymandering
drawing election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district, ruled unconstitutional in Gotrillion v. Lightfoot.
In 1905, white labor leaders organized the Japanese and Korean Exclusion Leagues, and in 1906, the San Francisco Board of Ed
excluded all states who passed laws denying the right to own land to aliens who were ineligible to become citizens.
What makes a fundamental law fundamental is whether it is
explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulated that
federal dollars under any grant program or project must be withdrawn form an entire school or institution of higher education that discriminates on the ground of race, color, national origin.
The 1968 Fair Housing Act
forbids discrimination in housing, with a few exceptions similar to those mentioned in public accommodations.
LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
forbids discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or nationality.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to any
hotel, motel, inn or lodging establishment; to any restaurant or gasoline station that serves interstate travelers or sells food or products that are moved in interstate commerce; and to any movie house, theatre, concert, sports arena, etc.
Under the Voting Rights Act, the Department of Justice
must also review changes involving practices or laws that may dilute the voting power of these groups
Citizenship determines ? and defines...
nationality, who is a member, owes allegiance to, and is a subject of the nation.
In 1957, northern and western members of Congress from both parties
overrode a Southern filibuster in the Senate and enacted the first federal civil rights law since Reconstruction, the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1957, which made it a crime to intimidate or threaten African Americans exercising their right to vote.
The Voting Rights Act
prohibits voting qualifications or standards that result in a denial of the right of any citizen to vote an account of race or color, it also bars any form of threats or intimidation aimed at preventing citizens from voting.
The Supreme Court rejected the argument that financial need alone identifies a suspect class for
purposes of equal protection analysis.
In Gratz v. Bollinger, the Court
struck down the undergraduate policy as too mechanical and not narrowly tailored to give applicants "individualized consideration" as Bakke required.
The key step in establishing rights of equal access was
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title II of the Act makes it a federal offense to discriminate against any customer or patron in a place of public accommodation because of race, color, religion or national origin
In the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Ed of Topeka,
the Supreme Court prohibited racially segregated public schools and subsequently struck down mist of the devices that state and local authorities have used to keep African Americans from voting.
As a result of the Civil War,
the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments became part of the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that all people are treated equally and establishes citizenship and the Fifteenth Amendment protects citizens voting rights.
Combined with the 24th amendment, ratified in 1964,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Supreme Court decisions barring the use of gerrymandering and literacy tests as a means to deprive African Americans of the right to vote, the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a major step forward in providing equal protection under the law.
The Equal Enforcement Opportunity Commission was created under the Act of Title VII. The commission works
together with state authorities to try to ensure compliance with the Act and may seek judicial enforcement complaints against private employees.
In Korematsu v. United States, the Court ruled that
under the threat to national security, it could not reject congressional and military judgement that disloyalty existed and must be segregated.
The Constitution forbids
unreasonable classifications. A classification is unreasonable when there is no relationship between the classes it creates and permissible governmental goals.
After California adopted Proposition 187 in 1994,
which denied medical, educational, and social services to illegal immigration and Congress amended the federal welfare laws to curtail benefits to non-citizens, many immigrants rushed to become naturalized.
Congress enacted the Enemy Act of 1798,
which remains in effect, authorizing the president to detain and expel citizens of a country with which we are at war.
de jure segregation
Segregation imposed by law.
majority-minority districts
A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.
class action suit
A lawsuit brought by an individual or a group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.
naturalization
A legal and conferring citizenship on an alien. (Eligible: Non-enemy, over 18, resided in U.S. for 5 years and in state for at least 6 months).
literacy test
A literacy requirement some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black votes in the South, now illegal.
restrictive covenant
A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.
white primary
A Democratic Party primary in the old "one-party South" that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright
due process clause
A clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; a similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
equal protection clause
A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against persons because of race, national origin or sex.
University of California v. Bakke-
Allan Bakke had twice applied for admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. He was rejected both times. The school reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one hundred for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's affirmative action program, in an effort to redress longstanding, unfair minority exclusions from the medical profession. Bakke's qualifications (college GPA and test scores) exceeded those of any of the minority students admitted in the two years Bakke's applications were rejected. Bakke contended, first in the California courts, then in the Supreme Court, that he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race. Four of the justices contended that any racial quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., agreed, casting the deciding vote ordering the medical school to admit Bakke. However, in his opinion, Powell argued that the rigid use of racial quotas as employed at the school violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The remaining four justices held that the use of race as a criterion in admissions decisions in higher education was constitutionally permissible.
States regulates elections and voting qualifications, however,
Article 1 Section 4 gives Congress the power to supersede state regulations as to the "Times, Places, and Manner" of elections for representatives and senators.
The Naturalization Act of 1906, made it impossible for
Asian Americans to become U.S. citizens.
Bob Jones University v. U.S.-
Bob Jones University was dedicated to "fundamentalist Christian beliefs" which included prohibitions against interracial dating and marriage. Such behavior would lead to expulsion. In 1970, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) changed its formal policy to adopt a district court decision that prohibited the IRS from giving tax-exempt status to private schools engaging in racial discrimination. The IRS believed that the University's policies amounted to racism and revoked its tax-exempt status. The University claimed that the IRS had abridged its religious liberty. The Court found that the IRS was correct in its decision to revoke the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University and the Goldsboro Christian School. These institutions did not meet the requirement by providing "beneficial and stabilizing influences in community life" to be supported by taxpayers with a special tax status.
Title VII of the 1964 Act made it illegal for
any employer or trade union in any industry affecting interstate commerce and employing 15 or more people to discriminate in employment practices. Employers must create workplaces that avoid abusive environments.
PGA Tour vs Martin-
Casey Martin is afflicted with a degenerative circulatory disorder that prevents him from walking golf courses. His disorder constitutes a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). When Casey made a request to use a golf cart for the duration of the qualification tournament onto the professional tours sponsored by PGA Tour, Inc., PGA refused. Martin then filed suit under Title III of the ADA, which requires an entity operating "public accommodations" to make "reasonable modifications" in its policies "when... necessary to afford such...accommodations to individuals with disabilities, unless the entity can demonstrate that making such modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of such...accommodations." The court ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provides access to professional golf tournaments by a qualified entrant with a disability. They also ruled that a disabled contestant cannot be denied the use of a golf cart because it would not "fundamentally alter the nature" of the tournaments to allow him to ride when all other contestants must walk.
Baker vs Carr-
Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to apportion the seats for the state's General Assembly was virtually ignored. Baker's suit detailed how Tennessee's reapportionment efforts ignored significant economic growth and population shifts within the state. The Court held that there were no such questions to be answered in this case and that legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue. In his opinion, Justice Brennan provided past examples in which the Court had intervened to correct constitutional violations in matters pertaining to state administration and the officers through whom state affairs are conducted. Brennan concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection issues which Baker and others raised in this case merited judicial evaluation.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted
Chinese immigration and excluded Chinese immigrants already in the U.S. from the possibility of citizenship.
dual citizenship
Citizenship in more than one country.
The Court ruled in Romer v. Evans that the provision,
Colorado prohibiting state and local governments from discrimination, violated the Equal Protection Clause because it lacked any rational basis.
Korematsu vs U.S.-
During World War II, Presidential Executive Order 9066 and congressional statutes gave the military authority to exclude citizens of Japanese ancestry from areas deemed critical to national defense and potentially vulnerable to espionage. Korematsu remained in San Leandro, California and violated Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 of the U.S. Army. The Court sided with the government and held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights.
Obergefell v. Hodges-
Groups of same-sex couples sued their relevant state agencies in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee to challenge the constitutionality of those states' bans on same-sex marriage or refusal to recognize legal same-sex marriages that occurred in jurisdictions that provided for such marriages. The plaintiffs in each case argued that the state's' statutes violated the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and one group of plaintiffs also brought claims under the Civil Rights Act. The court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. They also ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that was legally licensed and performed in another state.
The Constitution protects civil rights in two ways.
First, it ensures that government officials do not impermissibly discriminate against us; second, it grants national and state governments the power to protect these civil rights against interference by private individuals.
Loving vs Virginia-
In 1958, two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, were married in the District of Columbia. The Lovings returned to Virginia shortly thereafter. The couple was then charged with violating the state's anti-miscegenation statute, which banned interracial marriages. The Lovings were found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail. The court ruled that Virginia's anti miscegenation (law that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage) law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Milliken v. Bradley-
It dealt with the planned desegregation busing of public school students among 53 school districts in Detroit. The ruling clarified the distinction between de jure and de facto segregation, confirming that segregation was allowed if it was not considered an explicit policy of each school district. The Court held that the school systems were not responsible for desegregation across district lines unless it could be shown that they had deliberately engaged in a policy of segregation. The NAACP filed a suit against Michigan state officials including Governor Milliken. The NAACP argued that although schools were not officially segregated, the city of Detroit and the state as represented by its surrounding counties have enacted policies to increase racial segregation.
Wesberry vs Sanders-
James P. Wesberry, Jr. filed a suit against the Governor of Georgia, Carl E. Sanders, protesting the state's apportionment scheme. The Fifth Congressional District, of which Wesberry was a member, had a population two to three times larger than some of the other districts in the state. Wesberry claimed this system diluted his right to vote compared to other Georgia residents. The Court held that Georgia's apportionment scheme grossly discriminated against voters in the Fifth Congressional District. Because a single congressman had to represent two to three times as many people as were represented by congressmen in other districts, the Georgia statute contracted the value of some votes and expanded the value of others.
heightened scrutiny test
This test has been applied when a law classifies based on sex; to be upheld, the law must meet an important government interest.
affirmative action
Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.
Roe vs Wade-
Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woman's life. The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters.
de facto segregation
Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.
Jim Crow laws
State laws formerly pervasive throughout the South requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race; ruled unconstitutional.
poll tax
Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Board of Ed.
Shelley vs Kraemer-
The Kraemers were a white couple who owned a residence in a Missouri neighborhood governed by a restrictive covenant. This was a private agreement that prevented blacks from owning property in the Kraemers' subdivision. The Shelleys were a black couple who moved into the Kraemers neighborhood. The Kraemers went to court to enforce the restrictive covenant against the Shelleys. State courts could not constitutionally prevent the sale of real property to blacks even if that property is covered by a racially restrictive covenant.
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg-
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), on behalf of Vera and Darius Swann, the parents of a six-year-old child, sued the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district to allow their son to attend Seversville Elementary School, the school closest to their home and then one of Charlotte's few integrated schools. James McMillan, the federal district judge in the case, ruled in favor of the Swanns and oversaw the implementation of a busing strategy that integrated the district's schools. McMillan's decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld it.
Casey vs Planned Parenthood-
The Pennsylvania legislature amended its abortion control law in 1988 and 1989. Among the new provisions, the law required informed consent and a 24 hour waiting period prior to the procedure. A minor seeking an abortion required the consent of one parent (the law allows for a judicial bypass procedure). A married woman seeking an abortion had to indicate that she notified her husband of her intention to abort the fetus. These provisions were challenged by several abortion clinics and physicians. The Court again reaffirmed Roe, but it upheld most of the Pennsylvania provisions. For the first time, the justices imposed a new standard to determine the validity of laws restricting abortions. The new standard asks whether a state abortion regulation has the purpose or effect of imposing an "undue burden," which is defined as a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability."
United States v. Virginia-
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) boasted a long and proud tradition as Virginia's only exclusively male public undergraduate higher learning institution. The United States brought suit against Virginia and VMI alleging that the school's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional insofar as it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. Virginia, in response to the Fourth Circuit's reversal, proposed to create the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) as a parallel program for women. On appeal from the District Court's affirmation of the plan, the Fourth Circuit ruled that despite the difference in prestige between the VMI and VWIL, the two programs would offer "substantively comparable" educational benefits. The United States appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court held that VMI's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional. Because it failed to show "exceedingly persuasive justification" for VMI's gender-biased admissions policy, Virginia violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. Virginia failed to support its claim that single-sex education contributes to educational diversity because it did not show that VMI's male-only admissions policy was created or maintained in order to further educational diversity.
commerce clause
The clause of the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affects more than one state or other nations.
right of expatriation
The right to renounce one's citizenship.
civil rights
The rights of all people to be free from irrational discrimination such as that based on race, religion, sex or ethnic origin.
natural rights
The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.
