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Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in missouri. HIs master moved to Illinois. Illinois was a free state, and upon his return to missouri, Dred Scott sued unsuccessfully in missouri courts for freedom. He claimed that residence in a free territory made him a free man. After failing in state court, Scott took it to federal court, where it was determined that Scott was a slave, and slaves aren't and have never been national citizens, so they couldn't be state citizens, Scott did not have constitutional rights. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slaver and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. It is the first of three reconstruction ammendments after the civil war. This ammendment formally abolished slavery, but black codes, white supremacist violence, and selective enforcement continued to opress some former slaves. -
14th Amendment
the 14th Amendment is the second of the reconstruction amendments. It addressed citizenship rights and equal protection of laws due to issues relating to slaves not being equally protected. It is one of the most litigated parts of the constitution and has been the basis for countless cases such as Roe v. Wade, and m.any civil rights issues later to come. The due process clause specifically allows the 14th amendment to be so flexible -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment is the third and final of the Reconstruction Amendments. It prohibits state and federal courts from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This ammendment was an attempt to prevent freed slaves and other blacks from being disenfranchised, although poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures were still used to disenfranchise blacks through the 20th century. -
Poll Taxes
In the Reconstruction Era, Southern States and a few Northern ones implemented a poll tax-- a tax imposed on voters-- in order to disenfranchise black voters. These poll taxes prevent many poor blacks from voting becuase they are unable to pay. At the same time, many states adopted grandfather clauses, protecting white voter -
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White Primaries
White primaries were used to prevent black candidates from making it into final elections. The primaries accomplished this by barring blacks from primary elections. This prevented black candidates from getting votes, so they would not proceed into final elctions. This kept blacks out of office even when blacks were allowed to vote in final elections -
Plessy vs Ferguson
"Separate but equal." In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case and held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional.The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment prohibits any citizen from being denied the right to vote based on sex. It overturned Minor v. Happersett which said that womens' voting rights are not protected under the 14th Amendment. This amendment was first introduced by Senator Aaron Sargent in 187 -
Brown vs Board of Education
The Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.This historic decision marked the end of the "separate but equal" precedent set by the Supreme Court nearly 60 years earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson.Proponents of judicial activism believed the Supreme Court had appropriately used its position to adapt the basis of the Constitution to address new problems in new times. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment states that Federal and State governments cannot deny a citizen the right to vote as a result of a failure to pay a poll tax. This eliminated grandfather clauses, legal exploitation, and other prejudiced exams in regard to voting. This amendment was another step for black rights becuase it prevented states from disenfranchising them with unjust poll taxes and other prejudiced measures. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination based on color, race, religion, sex, or national origin. It ends unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segragation in schools, the workplace, and public accomodations. Powers given to the act are initially weak, but grow over the years. Congress uses its ability to regulate interstate commerce under Article one of the constitution, the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment, and the fifteenth amendment. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial disrimination in voting. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it, and congress amended it five times in order to expand its protections. It was designed in order to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. -
Reed vs Reed
Sally and Cecil Reed, a married couple who had separated, were in conflict over which of them to designate as administrator of the estate of their deceased son. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the law's dissimilar treatment of men and women was unconstitutional. -
Equal Rights Admendment
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." It was first proposed in Congress by the National Women's Party in 1923. The ratification of the amendment as the only clear-cut way to eliminate all legal gender-based discrimination. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
The school reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one hundred for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's affirmative action program, in an effort to redress longstanding, unfair minority exclusions from the medical profession.The special admissions program is unconstitutional, but race may be considered as a factor in the admissions process. -
Bowers vs. 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. -
Americans With Disablites Act
Prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life. To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability, which is defined by the ADA as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. -
Affrimative Action
Is the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who are perceived to suffer from discrimination within a culture. -
Lawrence vs Texas
Responding to a reported weapons disturbance in a private residence, Houston police entered John Lawrence's apartment and saw him and another adult man, Tyron Garner, engaging in a private, consensual sexual act.In a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Court held that the Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct violates the Due Process Clause.
