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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave that lived in Missouri, a slave state, but his owners took him into Illinois, a free state. He sued because he believed that once he was brought into a free territory he was free. The court ruled that because at the time Scott wasn't a citizen he couldn't sue so the case was dismissed. -
13th Amendment
The biggest thing that the 13th amendment did was abolish slavery. Even though slavery was technically illegal, slavery and racism was still very severe. Also, it not only ended slavery, it ended the powers of the fugitive slave clause and the three-fifths compromise. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment has to deal with citizenship rights and equal protection. This amendment was arguably one of the most impacting amendments because of the backlash and amount of contest that it received. However, it was very important to things like voting rights and race issues among citizens. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment denied the states any power to prohibit people from voting because of race or color. This amendment was very impacting for the black community because they were actually given some power to do something with the country. On the other hand, things like white primaries and other ways to discriminate began happening throughout the country. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In Louisiana an act was passed that segregated by race between railway cars. Plessy was a 7/8 Caucasian man and decided to sit in the whites only railway cars and was arrested. He sued for violation of his 13th and 14th amendment rights. the court ruled that having segregated cars did not imply any type of inferiority so therefore it was constitutional. -
19th Amendment
This amendment took many tries to get through Congress but it finally did. It denied the federal and state governments power to stop people from voting according to their sex. This led to thousands women across the nation to start putting their on agenda into play. -
Poll Taxes
Poll Taxes were just as they sound taxes on each individual that voted. In 1937 there was a court case called Breedlove v. Suttles regarding a Georgia law that imposed taxes on people that could vote, which at the time excluded women. He challenged the law under the 14th amendment and the equal protection clause. He lost, the court ruling that women needed special consideration. -
White Primaries
White primaries were state primary voting where only white people were allowed. In 1944 a case called Smith v. Allwright was argued where the question of does not letting black people vote in primaries violate the constitution? The court ruled that white primaries do violate the 24th amendment and the law in Texas was abolished. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This case involved the issue of segregation in public schools and whether it violates the equal protection clause or not. The court said that separate but equal education facilities weren't equal therefore they violated the 14th amendment. They argued that segregated schools implanted a sense of inferiority and was harmful to a students growth. -
24th Amendment
This amendment prohibited all government from issuing a poll tax. Although this amendment was in place some states still did not repeal their poll tax. However, in the court case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections all of those states' poll taxes were struck down. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act was a landmark piece of legislation that prohibited any type of discrimination when it comes to race, sex, religion, etc. It also denied any power to have segregated schools, facilities, or employment. There was a lot of resistance though with people saying that the government had no right to interfere in how the owner of a business ran their business. Thus, the struggle continued however it was more controlled. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This piece of legislation prohibited any type of racial discrimination pertaining to voting. It immediately decreased racial discrimination at the polls and minority voting registration sky rocketed. However, this act contributed a little to the increase in polarization in parties. -
Reed v. Reed
A separated couples' son died and both wanted to be named the administrator of his property. They gave the rights to the man and that was it however Sally challenged that saying it was a violation of her 14th amendment equal protection rights. The court ruled with Sally that the difference of treatment between men and women was unconstitutional. -
Equal Rights Amendment
(When Indiana Ratified) This amendment guaranteed equal rights to everyone regardless of sex. It was made to end legal distinctions between men and women. There is a lot of support for this amendment but not all states have ratified it. On the other hand there is still opposition with reasoning such as having women treated equally during wartime. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Bakke was an excellent student applying to a school that had reserved spots for minority groups. Although, he was better qualified than some of the minority group members, he was denied admission. he said this violated his equal protection clause rights and was unconstitutional. The court was very mixed opinionated on this case because some thought the school did violate it but only to some extent. all in all though the case was ruled in the schools favor. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Hardwick was seen performing consensual homosexual sodomy and charged for it. This was against Georgia statute but Hardwick challenged that statute. The court ruled that the constitution didn't say anything about protection of sodomy so the decision was left up to the states. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act prohibits discrimination upon disability. It has received some criticism with people saying the disability employment rate went down after the act was passed. Some businesses opposed saying the act would be very expensive and detrimental to small businesses. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action was practices within the government aimed at trying to include groups that had been excluded up until that point. In the case Grutter v. Bollinger the issue was if college having a preference of race was violating the 14th amendment. The court ruled that it wasn't violating the amendment because of the very in depth look into the applicants life determines the diversity they will bring not their race. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Police went into a home suspecting weapons and witnessed Lawrence and another man participating in a consensual sex act. Texas state law said the two people of the same sex can't perform sexual acts together. The court decided that the Texas law violated the due process clause and that clause gives them the right to participate in their conduct without the government interfering. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
Groups of people argued that many states' ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional. The court ruled that, just like heterosexual couples, homosexual couples marriage rights were protected under the due process clause.
