Chapter 5: Civil RightsRights and Liberties Civil Rights: Areas where the government must take action to insure fair and effective procedures- Active involvement: ensuring you can exercise your rights- Takes one to two days Civil Liberties: Areas where the government must not tread or where government infringement must have very clear and narrow limits.- Passive: They do not interfere and stay away from your freedoms, only regulate specific things.- Primarily found in the Bill of Rights are civil liberties- Takes a longer amount of time- Liberty = freedom and it is freedom from government intervention- Liberties are First Amendment: Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly Second Amendment: Right to Bear Arms Criminal Rights: 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Privacy: Contraception, Abortion, Right to Die, Gay Rights Major Difference: Government involvement, one is active and one is passiveCivil Rights Origins of Civil Rights in America- Bill of Rights happened right after the signing, in the beginning of us becoming a constitutional government- Civil Rights differ because they came during the civil war- Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) Major precursor to civil war Dred Scott was a former slave that moved to a free state Old owner wanted to move back to a slave state and make him a slave again Supreme court says he does have to go, and slaves are not people they are property Therefore, they are not guaranteed any constitutional rights Courts lost almost all of public prestige (country doesn’t see them as a legitimate institution, neither does Lincoln) Imp: there are no civil rights before the civil war Civil War Amendments- 13th Amendment: Abolished Slavery- 14th Amendment: Grants citizenship: must be born or naturalized in the U.Sto be a citizen, Equal protection of the law for everyone who is a citizen- 15th Amendment: Extends voting, no person will be denied the right to votebased on race and other qualifications (excludes women)- 19th Amendment (1919, ratified in 1920): Women right to vote- 24th Amendment: eliminated the poll tax, had to pay to vote, tried to keep African Americans from voting- 26th amendment: Change voting age to at most 18, can be lower elsewhere Civil Rights Post Reconstruction- Blacks (constitutionally) were allowed to vote but in practice they were not- Reconstruction: building up of the civil war- North won the war and wanted to keep the Union together, south doesn’t like this obviously- Compromise of 1877 Or the Corrupt Bargain: who’s going to get electoral votes South said they would give Rutherford b Hayes electoral votes if he immediately ended reconstruction- Jim Crow Laws Preventing African Americans from voting Procedural Limitations Poll Tax, Literacy Tests Also things about curfews and such Grandfather clause: if your grandfather was allowed to vote, so are you(helped white people)- Civil Rights Act of 1875 First attempt congress makes to federally enforce laws Supreme Court struck it down, it’s unconstitutional, the discriminatory acts were by private business There was no popular view as to enforcing these laws- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Imp: Set a precedent of separate but equal Railcars in Louisiana Homer Plessy was 1/16th black, and got on the white car and was arrested Supreme Court upheld this because they said it’s not wrong to separate, it is unnatural to force them together. NAACP- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People- Formed in 1909, built up support in the North- Demonstrations and (Peaceful) Organization Nonviolent protests- Legal Defense Fund Started in the 20s but didn’t start litigating until the 30s They fund cases to challenge these laws, good lawyers- Brown v Board of Education Topeka Kansas (1954) Imp: Set precedent that Separate is inherently unequal, overturned Plessy v Ferguson School facilities were not similar (at all), even if it was, practice of separating makes it unequal Only order is that you must desegregate schools in Topeka, Kansas All states took a while to enforce this because they were not forced to Civil Rights Acts- Had actual enforcing mechanisms, racial practices- Civil Rights Act of 1964 Don’t get funds if you’re not desegregated They can be sued directly by the government and take money Interstate commerce clause : how the government regulates states, if you are involved in interstate commerce then you can be regulated- Voting Rights Act of 1965 Section 5: If you had less than a certain percentage of African American turnout, you automatically must change voting laws and you fall into a specific classification and cannot regulate them anymore in the future without approval Cannot set laws in a discriminatory manner, so they were trying to prevent that Really effective in Georgia (first to overturn Jim crow and then to increase black vote)- Fair Housing Act of 1968 People didn’t rent to others because of their race Designed to end discriminatory housing practice, but no enforcement mechanisms- Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 Added the enforcement practices Other Civil Rights- ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) outlaws discrimination based on gender Never ratified, so it has no ability to protect against racial? discrimination Now it’s gone, there is no amendment, can still discriminate- Title IX (9) 1972 Education Act Equal support for men and women sports Equal treatment for male and female athletes- Title VII (7) Civil Rights Act of 1964<< Deals with sexual harassment in the workplace- Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 Supposed to be allowed equal access to facilities Can’t fire someone for being disabled- 1967 Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act Can’t be fired because of their age (only if not physically able)- Affirmative Action Preferential treatment, racially based, usually in admission processes to college Says race can be a factor but not the primary factor, if there are equal qualifications then you use race Original reason was so that minorities wouldn’t be denied education Types of Discrimination in Court- Racial based discrimination is most protected by the law, gets