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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a Missouri Slave who from 1833 to 1843 lived in the free state of Illinois. Once returned to Missouri he filled a lawsuit claiming to be free but the supreme court decided that because slaves are considered personal property, he had no right to sue. Established precedent that african americans had zero rights under the law. -
13th Admendment
The amendment was ratified which Banned all slavery in America except for as punishment for a crime. -
14th Amendment
Granted Citizenship to all persons born in the united states, including all formerly enslaved peoples. Provided everyone with equal protection under the law. -
15th Amendment
Gave African American men suffrage (the right to vote). However, this amendment lacks suffrage for women. -
Poll taxes
Poll taxes were a legal method of preventing black voting in southern states. Eligible voters had to pay money in order to vote, which targeted poor black voters. -
White Primaries
White primaries were a tactic used by southern states where only white voters could participate in the primary, therefore preventing black voters and candidates from electing black representatives. -
Plessy V. Furgeson
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act, which required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Plessy – who was seven-eighths Caucasian – agreed to participate in a test to challenge the Act. They asked Plessy, who was technically black under Louisiana law, to sit in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. The Court held that the state law was constitutional. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. -
Brown v. Board of Education
African American students had been denied admittance to certain public schools based on laws allowing public education to be segregated by race. Advocates argued that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities are inherently unequal, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment -
24th Amendment
Citizens cannot be denyed the right to vote for not paying poll taxes or fines. -
Civil Rights Bill of 1964
Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed many discriminatory practices used in primarily southern states after the civil war, banning literacy tests and other barriers. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action involves sets of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed, or nationality in areas in which such groups are underrepresented - such as education and employment. -
Reed v. Reed
The Idaho Probate Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing administrators of estates. After the death of their adopted son, both Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be named the administrator of their son's estate (the Reeds were separated). According to the Probate Code, Cecil was appointed administrator and Sally challenged the law in court. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. -
Equal Rights Amendment
An amendment that was proposed to congress but failed was designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It has been attempted multiple times and failed each time. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Michael Hardwick was observed by a Georgia police officer while engaging in the act of consensual homosexual sodomy with another adult in the bedroom of his home. After being charged with violating a Georgia statute that criminalized sodomy, Hardwick challenged the statute's constitutionality in Federal District Court. The divided Court found that there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy and that states could outlaw those practices. -
The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation. -
Motor Voter Law
Commonly referred to as the Motor Voter Act, the National Voter Registration Act allows American citizens to register to vote when they are issued a driver’s license. Intended to boost the number of Americans who register, the law also requires states to create mail-in registration forms and to accept national registration forms created by the Federal Elections Commission. Caused a massive wave of new voters. -
Regents of University of California v. Bakke
John Doe sued the University of California alleging that it had agreed to employ him at a laboratory it operated according to a contract with the federal Department of Energy (DOE) and that it had wrongfully breached its agreement upon determining that he could not obtain a required security clearance. The university argued that it was immune from liability under the Eleventh Amendment. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, stated that the California university could not be sued by Doe. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for consensual, adult non-procreative sexual activity (commonly referred to as sodomy laws) are unconstitutional. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Obergefell v. Hodges, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5–4) on June 26, 2015, that state bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same-sex marriages duly performed in other jurisdictions are unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
