Group 5 Members Alex Young Jordan Khayat Connor Jones Erin Smith Joseph Reisigl Lydia Gabrielle Cordero Melissa Vuocolo 1 Define civil rights and locate in the U S Constitution the obligation on government to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the law Civil rights is the guarantee that all citizens can participate in the government and that all citizens are equal and should enjoy equal protections under the law The U S Constitution outlines this obligation to ensure equal rights to all citizens in the 14 th Amendment which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the U S that no state shall make laws denying the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States that no state can deprive a person of life liberty or property without due process of law and no state can deny any person equal protection under the law Additionally the 15 th and 19th Amendments allow for all citizens the right to vote no matter their gender race or previous condition of servitude 2 Explain why discrimination against individuals and groups exists in the United States today Although Congress has passed multiple pieces of legislation preventing discrimination against individuals these acts have been rendered ineffective by custom and tradition in the United States o African Americans still face discrimination today In surveys many whites believe America has achieved racial equality while many African Americans believe otherwise One example is the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates who was arrested in his own home because his neighbor called the police saying he believed he saw two black men breaking into his home although it was just him and a taxi driver trying to get his front door unstuck Another example is the Treyvon Martin George Zimmerman case which many citizens believe was a racist act o Women also face discrimination today in the military politics wages and sexual harassment The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether or not women should be allowed to participate in the military Even though women are allowed to join 90 of military positions the other 10 they are not allowed to join is very controversial today Women have become more populous in American politics but still are few and far between 18 of Congress is women 3 of the 9 Supreme Court justices are women and Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House in 2007 But women are still discriminated against in the public eye of the United States Although Congress passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to provide equal pay for all individuals who do the same level of work women still get paid about 77 4 cents per dollar a man makes This has led to Supreme Court cases one very recent in 2009 when Lilly Ledbetter was getting paid less than her male coworkers even though she was working the same job as them Women also face discrimination in the form of sexual harassment at the workplace which has tried to be reduced in recent years o The most controversial form of discrimination today is about illegal immigration and their rights as citizens Although Congress mainly agrees to gradually accept illegal immigrants as citizens others disagree o o In 2010 Arizona governor Jan Brewer passed a controversial law which allowed police to identify anyone suspected of be illegal prosecute and deport them if they are illegal Similarly police in many states are allowed search and seizure of anyone one the street the suspect are engaged in suspicious activity 80 of those searched are minorities mainly blacks and Latinos Affirmative action is also viewed as reverse discrimination against the whites By reserving special slots in colleges or businesses for minorities many whites feel discriminated against In the Regents of the University of California v Bakke case Bakke felt he was being discriminated against because he was denied entry to the university even though he had higher grade point averages than the minorities accepted Gays and lesbians are the most discriminated group in America today Only 13 states allow same sex marriages today There are still many hate crimes committed against gays and lesbians although they seem to be receding recently 3 Assess the limits of the state and federal law in guaranteeing equality to all people There were two important court decisions that kept the Civil Rights Laws from being effective a The Civil Rights Cases said that the enforcement clause of the 14 th Amendment which says no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens was limited to correcting actions by states in their official acts the discriminatory acts of private citizens were not illegal This basically made it impossible to enforce equality in daily life and interaction b Plessy vs Ferguson Plessy was the 1 8th African American who sat in the all white car and was kicked out The Supreme Court determined that it was constitutional to kick him out establishing the separate but equal doctrine Voting Barriers i White primaries only whites could vote in primaries ii Grandfather clause you can vote if your grandpa voted before 1867 iii Poll taxes pay a fee to vote kept poor blacks and whites from voting iv Literacy tests people had to read or recite complicated texts They were harder for blacks Outside the law Lynching mob action to murder an accused individual usually by hanging Courts didn t prosecute or convict whites who lynched blacks 4 Explain why the U S Supreme Court plays such an important role relative to civil rights and identify at least two significant Supreme Court decisions that advanced civil rights in the United States The Supreme Court plays an important role in civil rights because they have the power to interpret what civil rights are and when they are being infringed upon The decision they made in their cases involving civil rights often went against what was considered the popular opinion and in turn would open new doors to change While they would on occasion make a step backward they still have the power protect the equality rights that are not explicitly written in the constitution Two important cases that advanced civil rights were the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka and the with all deliberate speed decision In Brown vs Board of Education African American Oliver Brown enrolled his daughter in school for white children that was 7 blocks from there home instead of the segregated school that was across town When she was denied admission