Civil+Rights+Power+Points

GOVT 2301 Civil Rights and the Equal Protection Clause Civil Rights

Legal guarantees that citizens are entitled to make on government. Distinct from Civil Liberties

Protections from the arbitrary use of governmental power Legislative Action Executive Action Judicial Action Legislative Action

[|Civil Rights Acts] A variety of Civil Rights Acts have been passed over American history. Most dating back to the 19 th  Century were weak and unenforceable. Some were found unconstitutional or were watered down by the Supreme Court. Civil Rights Act of 1964

Most significant Act. Outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment. Based on broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause. It authorized the Attorney General to file lawsuits to protect individuals against the deprivation of any rights secured by the Constitution or U.S. law. Lawsuits could also be filed by private individuals. Placed limitations on state sovereignty  Executive Action

Executive Orders

An order issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government. usually to help direct the operation of executive officers. Hiring practices Affirmative Action <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Since the Federal Government has a large workforce, the executive branch has been able to influence civil rights policy in its hiring practices <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">[|Office][|of Federal Contract Compliance][|Programs]

The Agency responsible for ensuring that employers doing business with the Federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondiscrimination. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">[|Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission]

the branch of the U.S. government that enforces equal opportunity laws in workplaces. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The origins of these agencies trace back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War II when he signed Executive Order 8802, preventing discrimination based on race by government contractors. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Executive Order 10479:

Signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 13, 1953 establishing the anti-discrimination Committee on Government Contracts. Established the concept of Equal Employment Opportunity. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 28pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Executive Order 11246

An executive order issued by Lyndon Johnson. It "prohibits federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors, who do over $10,000 in Government business in one year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Contractors are also required to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin."

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Executive Order 11375

Issued by President Richard Nixon in 1968. Added sex discrimination to OFCCP’s mandate. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Judicial Action

Court Decisions <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The most flexible and ongoing influence on civil rights policy is in how the court interprets equal protection, and how they determine whether the clause has been unreasonably violated. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">When is unequal protection warranted and when is it not? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Sources of Concept of Civil Rights:

Grant by the King: Magna Carta

Natural Rights: Declaration of Independence <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In the former, rights are granted by a monarch, in the later rights are considered innate. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Declaration of Independence can be considered to be a civil rights document. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">But this is not a legal guarantee.

There was no legal guarantee of civil rights until the 14 <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-text-raise: 30%; vertical-align: super;">th <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> Amendment <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The has an explicit requirement that the Federal Government not deprive individuals of "life, liberty, or property," without due process of the law and an implicit guarantee that each person receive equal protection of the laws. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Fourteenth Amendment. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Key Phrase:

Equal Protection of the Laws <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Overruled Scott v. Sanford:

African-Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States or enjoy any of the privileges and immunities of citizenship. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">A response to Black Codes created in various states after the Civil War. These were intended to retain a secondary status for the recently freed slaves. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Areas of unequal protection:

Property Contracts Uneven Sentences <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> The amendment was intended to provide general protections for groups unlikely to be supported in the states.

[|From][|Findlaw] <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Passed only because southern states had not been readmitted to Congress, and ratification was made a condition of re-entry. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Driven by Radical Republicans in the Congress

John Bingham Charles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Not accepted by Southern States.

Jim Crow and Segregated Facilities established to negate the amendment’s impact. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Supreme Court did not interpret the Equal Protection Clause as its authors intended. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Some Supreme Court decisions supported equal protection: <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">

Strauder v. West Virginia <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> (1880), soon after the end of Reconstruction. A black man convicted of murder by an all-white jury challenged a West Virginia statute excluding blacks from serving on juries. Exclusion of blacks from juries, the Court concluded, was a denial of equal protection to black defendants, since the jury had been "drawn from a panel from which the State has expressly excluded every man of [the defendant's] race." <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Some did not: The Civil Rights Cases

The bills outlawed segregation in “inns, public conveyances on land or water, theatres, and other places of public amusement.” These were declared unconstitutional. The Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to private entities.

The dissent argued that these were quasi-public establishments often sanctioned by state licenses. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> Public and private facilities are viewed differently. But what if a private entity provides a public service, or is a public accommodation? What is a fully private entity? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Plessy v. Ferguson

Racial Segregation in public transportation upheld. Promotes public order. Facilities fundamentally equal. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Separate but Equal Doctrine

As long as the service or facility is fundamentally equal, it does not violate the 14 <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-text-raise: 30%; vertical-align: super;">th <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> Amendment. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Post Plessy

Legal strategy developed by the NAACP to overturn the doctrine. A variety of cases were taken to the court with the intent of demonstrating that the Separate but Equal Doctrine was not practical. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Sweatt v Painter: TSU Law School not equal to UT Law School.

Set stage for Brown v Board: Separation inherently unequal <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Unequal treatment could not be justified.

This is the fundamental issue concerning discrimination. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is there a strong reason why a distinction can be made, by law, between people based on some criteria?

What justifies unequal treatment? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Areas of discrimination:

transportation access to public accommodations education housing employment / pay marriage

What can justify unequal treatment in each area? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Principal Criteria

Religion Race Citizenship Gender Age Disability Sexual Orientation <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Not all criteria are considered in the same way. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Footnote Four

United States v. Carolene Products Co.

Contains a justification for the development of the concept of strict scrutiny. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">

Footnote Four outlines a higher level of judicial scrutiny for legislation that met certain conditions:

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">1 – The rule, on its face, violates a provision of the Constitution (facial challenge). <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">2 – The rule attempts to distort or rig the political process. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">3 – The rule discriminates against minorities, particularly those who lack sufficient numbers or power to seek redress through the political process. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Suspect Classifications

A status that makes a law that categorizes on that basis suspect, and therefore deserving of greater judicial scrutiny. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Three rules developed by the court to determine what level of proof justifies unequal treatment

Strict Scrutiny Intermediate Scrutiny Rational Basis <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Strict Scrutiny

First, it must be justified by a <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">compelling governmental interest <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">. Second, the law or policy must be <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">narrowly tailored <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> to achieve that goal or interest. Finally, the law or policy must be the <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">least restrictive means <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> for achieving that interest.

Applied to suspect classifications. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Intermediate Scrutiny

Intermediate scrutiny is met if a regulation involves <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">important governmental interests <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> that are furthered by <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">substantially related means <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Rational Basis

Is the governmental action at issue a reasonable means to an end that may be legitimately pursued by government? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Applying the Equal Protection Clause

Two issues: <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">1. Are there legitimate reasons to continue to make distinctions between certain groups? What are those reasons and in what contexts? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">2. How does one prove unlawful discrimination occurred? How do we know if a law is in fact discriminatory? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Discriminatory Intent

Disparate Impact <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Discriminatory Intent

Actions taken with an intent to treat a group adversely affected differently. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Disparate Impact

A policy that does not intend to discriminate but results in outcomes that have “disparate racial consequences.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Policies with a disparate impact can be treated the same as those with discriminatory intent. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Supreme Court ruled in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">[|Griggs v. Duke Power Co.] <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> (1971) that (1) if an employer's policy has disparate racial consequences, and (2) if the employer cannot give a reasonable justification for such a policy on grounds of "business necessity," then the employer's policy violates Title VII <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Problem: How to determine whether disparate impact reveals a clever way to disguise discriminatory intent? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Specific Cases demonstrating the application of strict and intermediate and the rational basis test. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Race Strict Scrutiny

Brown v. Board of Education Loving v. Georgia <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Separation creates a feeling of inferiority <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act was found to violate the Equal Protection Clause <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 28pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In a unanimous decision, the Court held that distinctions drawn according to race were generally "odious to a free people" and were subject to "the most rigid scrutiny" under the Equal Protection Clause. The Virginia law, the Court found, had no legitimate purpose "independent of invidious racial discrimination." The Court rejected the state's argument that the statute was legitimate because it applied equally to both blacks and whites and found that racial classifications were not subject to a "rational purpose" test under the Fourteenth Amendment. – Oyez Project <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Alienage <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Gender Intermediate Scrutiny

United States v. Virginia Nguyen v. INS <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 40pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is 8 USC section 1409(a)'s statutory distinction, which imposes different requirements for a child's acquisition of citizenship depending upon whether the citizen parent is the mother or the father, consistent with the equal protection guarantee embedded in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Yes. In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Court held that "[section 1409(a)] is consistent with the constitutional guarantee of equal protection." "For a gender-based classification to withstand equal protection scrutiny, it must be established 'at least that the [challenged] classification serves important governmental objectives and that the discriminatory means employed are substantially related to the achievement of those objectives,' <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">legitimization, a declaration of paternity under oath by the father, or a court order of paternity. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The first such interest is the importance of assuring that a biological parent-child relationship exists. The mother’s relation is verifiable from the birth itself and is documented by the birth certificate or hospital records and the witnesses to the birth. However, a father need not be present at the birth, and his presence is not incontrovertible proof of fatherhood. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Disabilities Rational Basis Test

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In 1980, Cleburne Living Center, Inc. submitted a permit application to operate a home for the mentally retarded. The city council of Cleburne voted to deny the special use permit, acting pursuant to a municipal zoning ordinance. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Did the denial of the permit violate the Equal Protection rights of Cleburne Living Center, Inc. and its potential residents? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In a unanimous judgment, the Court held that the denial of the special use permit to Cleburne Living Centers, Inc. was premised on an irrational prejudice against the mentally retarded, and hence unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. While the Court declined to grant the mentally retarded the status of a "quasi-suspect class," it nevertheless found that the "rational relation" test for legislative action provided sufficient protection against invidious discrimination. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Although in 1985 the court in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 32pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> held mentally retarded persons were deemed to be subject to a "rational basis" test, in invalidating seemingly rational zoning laws and land use restrictions, many assert that the court introduced an "enhanced" rational basis test that required the state to show more than a facially valid law and instead to balance the community's needs against the needs of the disabled. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Age Rational Basis

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Vance v. Bradley <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Section 632 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 required that members of the Foreign Service retirement system retire at 60. No mandatory retirement age was specified for employees covered by the Civil Service retirement system. Holbrook Bradley, a member of the Foreign Service retirement system, challenged the statute in United States District Court for the District of Columbia and prevailed. The government appealed to the Supreme Court. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Did Section 632 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 violate the Equal Protection component of the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 28pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">No. In an 8-1 opinion written by Justice Byron R. White, the Court emphasized the distinction between the Civil Service and Foreign Service, and the "special attention" paid to the Foreign Service by Congress. The Court interpreted the purpose of Section 632 to be the encouragement of the "highest performance in the ranks of the Foreign Service by assuring that opportunities for promotion would be available," a legitimate interest that justified the distinction. The Court also recognized the possibility that service in the Foreign Service would be more rigorous than service in the Civil Service. Given that possibility, Congress had a "reasonable basis" for enacting the statute, <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Sexual Orientation Still unknown

Lawrence v. Texas <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Problem area:

Affirmative Action <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Internal Contradiction:

In order to address racial disparity, race is often taken into consideration. This violates the Equal Protection Clause. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 24pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Seattle School District allowed students to apply to any high school in the District. Since certain schools often became oversubscribed when too many students chose them as their first choice, the District used a system of tiebreakers to decide which students would be admitted to the popular schools. The second most important tiebreaker was a racial factor intended to maintain racial diversity. If the racial demographics of any school's student body deviated by more than a predetermined number of percentage points from those of Seattle's total student population (approximately 40% white and 60% non-white), the racial tiebreaker went into effect. At a particular school either whites or non-whites could be favored for admission depending on which race would bring the racial balance closer to the goal. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is racial diversity a compelling interest that can justify the use of race in selecting students for admission to public high schools? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 24pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">No. By a 5-4 vote, the Court applied a "strict scrutiny" framework and found the District's racial tiebreaker plan unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. . . The District's goal of preventing racial imbalance did not meet the Court's standards for a constitutionally legitimate use of race: "Racial balancing is not transformed from 'patently unconstitutional' to a compelling state interest simply by relabeling it 'racial diversity.'" The plans also lacked the narrow tailoring that is necessary for race-conscious programs. The Court held that the District's tiebreaker plan was actually targeted toward demographic goals and not toward any demonstrable educational benefit from racial diversity. The District also failed to show that its objectives could not have been met with non-race-conscious means. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">