Equal Protection

Chapter 7

EP Under the Law• Civil liberties • Civil rights • Reasonable v. Unreasonable Discrimination

– Ordinary Scrutiny

– Strict Scrutiny

– Intermediate Scrutiny

• Federalist No. 10– “Theoretic politicians…have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind

to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized...in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.”

– “diversity in the faculties of men” that allows some people to be more successful than others in securing such things as property rights.

African Americans• Civil War Amendments

– 13th Amendment

– 14th Amendment

– 15th Amendment

• Jim Crow laws– Voting: Grandfather clause, Poll tax, Property requirements

– Public places: Housing, Restaurants, Hotels, etc.

• Freedman’s Bureau

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• Separate but equal in schools – Brown v. Board of Education

• Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Act of 1964– Tried to justify by the 14th EP Clause but didn’t work

– Commerce Clause: fed gov’t can regulate interstate commerce

– Parts of the Act:• Title 4: public education

• Title 6: withhold $$$ if discrimination occurs

• Title 7: EEO

• Title 9: no discrimination based on sex

Cocky as ever and unaware of how much his actions have aided the civil rights cause, police commissioner Bull Connor struts through Kelly Ingram

Park, the scene of much of the unrest. Connor urged his men to let whites near the demonstrations. "I want them to see the dogs work," he said.

Other Groups, Other Demands• Hispanic Americans

– 14.6% of U.S. population; in 2002, 40 million

– 23 HOR, 0 Senate members

– Identify by their country of origin

– Political participation

• Asian Americans– Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

– Quotas

– Relocation camps 1942

– Korematsu v. United States

• Native Americans– Citizenship Act of 1924

– Native American Languages Act 1990

Rights for Persons with Disabilities

• Rehabilitation Act (1973)• Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975)• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

– Disability

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Women

• 1776 Abagail Adams • Seneca Falls Convention

– Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton

– First women’s rights convention

• Women’s Groups– Nat’l Woman Suffrage Association

– American Woman Suffrage Association

• 19th Amendment• Representation in gov’t

Beyond EP

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)• Affirmative Action

– University of California v. Bakke

– Reverse discrimination

• Civil Rights Act of 1991• University of Michigan Cases

– Undergraduate

– Graduate