POSC 130g 1st Edition Lecture 14 Current Lecture Religion If people who have religious beliefs should be allowed to be exempt from certain public policies Should people be allowed to be exempt from military service Mozert v Hawkins not a US Supreme Court case lower court case Demonstrates issue of exemption lawsuit brought by Christian Parents wanted Children to be removed from the classes when they were covering certain topics that the families found objectionable Parents had children going to public school but didn t like the textbook that the teacher decided to us Holt published covered different readings but the parents objected to certain things in the textbook They spent 200 hours reviewing the Holt series and found numerous passages that offered religious beliefs i e evolution futuristic stuff magic false views of death etc The argument that was advanced was the family s religious freedom rights were violated if children were exposed The parents wanted the children to be excused from class when this material was covered It violates the first amendment only during the seven categories The lower court ruled for it The court reversed it on appeal because it was too much of a burden on the school and didn t violate exercise rights If the government enacts a policy to protect religious freedom but some critics say that if the government is working to protect the rights of one religion that is establishing a religion This would violate the establishment clause one of the prongs in the Lemon Test Do public schools teach only evolution and are not allowed to make other explanations as to how the world came into existence Philosophers believe that the government shouldn t tell the people what to think but according to that philosophy the government is supposed to be neutral and not impose a particular value system on them If this is an accurate characterization is it problematic that public schools only teach a scientific explanation to the exclusion of religion Is that neutral There is a problem for democratic theory if the government is supposed to be neutral but still at the same time preach science Can you teach intelligent design Race and Law What is the meaning of equal protection of the laws Before we were dealing with due process and constitutional rights religious freedom what is the proper relationship between church and state and now we are dealing with the idea of equality The concept of race is one of the most important it has been a difficulty in the United States The right to equal protection comes from the 14th amendment legal attempts to prohibit racial discrimination The Concept of Race in the 19th century there were a lot of scientific theories about race Arthur de Gobineau s Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races 1853 1855 Houston Stewart Chamberlain s The Foundations of the Twentieth Century 1899 1911 Madison Grant s The Passing of a Great Race 1917 Lothrop Stoddard s The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy 1920 these thinkers were people who were influenced by the Eugenics movement that was studied earlier Arian myth southern and eastern Europeans were less than northern Europeans whites were better than Asians and Africans There were books that promoted racism these aren t only ancient ideas The debates about racial differences in terms of genetics were derived by the bell curve debate and Jenson promoted racial differences The claims have been proven to be false this was exposed by many scholars such as Steven Gull In 1980s and 1990s critical race theory developed Bias in the legal system Derek Bell Kimberle Crenshaw Richard Delgado Charles Larence Ian Haney Lopez Mari Matsuda and Adrien Wing They are trying to show profound racial bias in the American legal system Difference between race and ethnicity historically treated as a biological category and ethnicity as a social construction Ethnicity is different from class ethnicity refers to social classification in which individuals have a culture that differentiates them from different social groups Race was treated as a biological designation ethnicity as social Another viewpoint Ethnicity is the larger category and race is a sub category of ethnicity all races are ethnic groups but not all ethnic groups are races In the late 20th century Race Formation published by Omi and Winant argued that racial groups can be differentiated in different ethnic categories this was the precursor for critical race theory and the idea that race is socially constructed Critical race theorists in some states Asians might be colored or non colored If a comparative analysis how different races are classified varies tremendously Race is not biological different states in the US classify it differently people have multiple identities Even though the concept of race has become more complicated it doesn t mean the legal system has acknowledged more sophisticated treatment of race Law still acts as race is a real thing realification legal system classifies people as though racial categories have an intrinsic meaning Legal categories are questionable Legal Treatment of Race Legal Definitions of Race in the UK there was a debate as to what groups deserve legal protection In the UK the Court of Appeals high court people wanted to argue for protection under the law they would use Race Relations Act In order to be protected a group had to be considered an ethnic group In England had to argue they experienced discrimination and an ethnic group Mandla v Dowell Lee 1983 case that involved a group from South Asian as a religious minority from India The Seek student wanted to be allowed to wear a turban during gym and the family brought suit when the school wouldn t allow it Did Sikhs count as an ethnic group to be able to use the law The court said they did But in a later case there was a man from the Caribbean the Rastafarian that was associated with Jamaica and wanted to be a chauffer for the government They didn t want to cut their head had dreadlocks put it in a hat He tried to bring a lawsuit saying he had been a victim of discrimination for the hair but the government decided he didn t count as an ethnic minority Classification of Native Americans Blood quantum rule determine who could claim in the identity if one had a grandparent to count for a member of the group Black White Paradigm discrimination against African Americans Centrality of race in the US history Slaves didn t have legal standing couldn t get