4 Civil Rights

• Civil liberties

  freedoms enjoyed by individual Americans eg right to freedom of speech
• Civil rights

  additional protections so groups of citizens not discriminated against. Come from 14th Amendment and equal protection clause and granted through Acts of Parliament
• Bill of Rights

  first 10 amendments to Constitution that were agreed by Congress in 1789 and finally ratified in 1791. Focus on individual rights eg freedom of speech and religion. Protect the civil liberties of US citizens from the actions of government
• Supreme Court

  highest federal court in USA. Supreme Court is the final court of appeal and is responsible for interpreting the Constitution
• • women, Native Americans and enslaved people excluded from equality and ‘unalienable’ rights
  • right to ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ revolutionary during the time
• Inalienable rights

  Rights that cannot be taken away
• Entrenched rights Rights

  explicitly mentioned within the Constitution that are protected by the amendment process. This means they cannot be easily removed or altered
• constitution

  • protect citizens from overly powerful government
  • codified and checks and balances limited power of government
  • justice through Supreme Court as court of final appeal
• 1st Amendment - freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly

  2nd - right to bear arms

  6th - right to fair trial

  
• 13th Amendment - abolished slavery

  14th Amendment - former enslaved people full citizenship. All citizens ‘equal protection’ under law

  15th Amendment - men of all races right to vote

  19th Amendment - women right to vote on same terms as men

  24th Amendment - right to vote without needing to pay tax. Prevented African-Americans from being disenfranchised
• Landmark ruling

  judgement by Supreme Court that establishes a new legal principle, or fundamentally changes the way in which the Constitution is interpreted. This effectively changes the meaning of federal law
• equal rights amendment

  • unratified and would’ve made it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sex
  • led by National Organization for Women (NOW) pressure group
  • 1972, passed by Congress and ratified by 35 states
  • opposition from Conservative women so not ratified by 3/4 states within deadline
  • 2020, Democrat House voted to extend deadline but Republican Senate not approve
• landmark rulings

  • Brown v Topeka: students not segregated by race
  • Miranda v Arizona: suspects informed of 5th Amendment rights before questioned by police
  • Roe v Wade: abortion in first two trimesters of pregnancy
  • District of Columbia v Heller: right to bear arms
  • Obergefell v Hodges: same-sex marriage
• Promoting rights

  • fundraising for advertising campaigns for public, politicians and judiciary
  • public campaigning eg social media, rallies, direct action
  • political campaigning eg lobbying and donations to candidates
  • legal campaigning eg sponsor legal cases or amicus curiae briefs
• American Civil Liberties Union

  • defends civil liberties of Americans even white supremacist organisations
  • 1978, right of neo-Nazi group to march where Holocaust survivors lived
  • 2017, challenged Trump’s ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries
  • 2020, Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, defended woman fired for being transgender, discrimination on gender orientation unconstitutional
  • challenges to security measures after 9/11 but Bush, Obama and Trump continued imprisonment without trial of suspects at Guantanamo Bay
• National Association for Advancement of Colored People

  • success in in civil rights movement
  • legal representation for protesters arrested by government and helped plan March on Washington
  • lobbied Congress to pass Civil Rights Acts and Voting Rights Act
  • campaigns to increase African-American voters
  • campaign to end racial segregation and ‘separate but equal’. Won Brown v Topeka
  • focus on conventional campaign methods whereas Martin Luther King used direct action
• NAACP in 21st century

  • ensure African-Americans have equal economic, education, health, criminal justice and voting rights and expand youth engagement in civil rights
  • 2020, #WeAreDoneDying against racism after shooting of unarmed man and disproportionate African-American deaths from Covid
  • 2020 presidential election, NAACP ran national voter mobilisation programme and record levels of black voter turnout. Election of first black VP Kamala Harris
• social movements: Anti-lockdown movement

  • during Covid, protest against lockdown and argued state governors’ stay-at-home orders violated civil liberties
  • 2020, protesters breached lockdown to attend crowded demonstrations in state capitals carrying guns. Armed protesters entered Michigan Capitol and FBI arrested members planning to kidnap Michigan’s governor
• race

  • slavery legal in southern states until civil rights
  • 13th Amendment abolish slavery and rights expanded by Civil Rights Act
  • southern states passed Jim Crow laws supporting racial segregation
  • Supreme Court legalise ‘separate but equal’ in Plessy v Ferguson
• Native Americans

  • genocide by European settlers as Native Americans forced from their land
  • 1851, governor of California said “war of extermination continue until Indian race becomes extinct”
  • Indian Civil Rights Act extend Bill of Rights to Native Americans
  • 5 million Native Americans and 1 million live on reservations
  • reservation managed by different tribe with own laws and government
  • unemployment, limited educational opportunities and poverty 2x national average
• Civil Rights Movement

  • Brown v Topeka Board of Education
  • 1995, murder of 14 yr old Emmett Till by white men but killers acquitted by all-white jury
  • Martin Luther King non-violent campaign and ‘I have a dream’ speech
  • Obama first black president
  • Congress pass Civil Rights Acts and Voting Rights Act
  • ratify 24th Amendment protected African-Americans from discrimination in voting
• race: Bussing

  • after Brown v Topeka, bussing introduced
  • black and Latino students sent by bus to attend white schools to force desegregation
  • two-way bussing so some white students bussed to minority schools
  • anti-bussing protests by white parents and politicians
  • students on buses did better and had higher chance of graduating
  • President Biden argued bussing stopped and Kamala Harris was studen on the bus
• Affirmative action

  Positive discrimination to favour racial minorities by employers or universities, or federal or state governments
• Felony disenfranchisement

  loss of the right to vote by people who have been convicted of a felony. May be temporary or permanent, and varies from state to state
• Ballot initiative

  petition signed by a certain number of registered voters which leads to the electorate voting on a proposed law or constitutional amendment
• Alt-Right

  Political movement made up of individuals who hold a range of different far right beliefs, including white supremacists, neo-Nazis and neo-Confederates (people who support the pro-slavery states)
• Shelby County

  • Voting Rights Act protect voting rights of black citizens
  • section IV has states that have violated voting rights
  • section V said those states needed approving from government before can change voting laws
  • 2010, Shelby County v Holder said section IV outdated and removed
  • reintroduction of discriminatory voting practices eg stricter voter ID laws
• race: affirmative action

  • 1960s, Democrats used so racial minorities get jobs or at uni
  • Liberals think fair as economic and social disadvantages
  • Democrats support eg Obama and Biden
  • Republicans critical as reverse discrimination eg Bush and Trump
  • 2020, California rejected proposition 16 to remove ban on public sector affirmative action
  • 2016, Fisher v Uni of Texas ruled racial affirmative action legal
  • 2020, Trump’s administration file amicus brief against Harvard Uni using race in admissions but Court supported
• race: voting rights

  • Voting Rights Act 1965, easier for African-Americans to vote by removing restrictions in southern states
  • Shelby County v Holder. Over 25 states introduce voter restrictions eg strict voter photo ID
  • Hispanics and African-Americans less likely have required ID and vote Democrat
  • 2016, black voter turnout fell by 7%
  • 2020, NAACP and Democratic Party try mobilise black voters
  • 88% young black people voted for Biden and 9% for Trump
• race: incarceration rates

  • 5x for African-Americans than white people
  • 2018, 12% adult population prisoners but 33% prisoners African-American
  • white and African-Americans use drugs at similar rate, African-Americans 6x likely drug charges
  • Covid, African-Americans over 80% of social distancing violations in New York City
• race: felony disenfranchisement

  • African-Americans high rate of incarceration
  • all but 2 states prohibit people convicted of felony from voting, majority prohibit people on probation or parole and 11 states prohibit after sentence
  • 2020, 1 in every 16 African-American of voting age not eligible to vote because of previous criminal conviction, 3.7x higher
  • 2018, Florida highest felony disenfranchisement and restore right to vote to fully completed sentences
  • 2016 to 2020, felony disenfranchisement decreased by 15%
• race: black lives matter

  • 2013, Zimmerman acquitted for shooting unarmed black teenager
  • Obama spoke about death and frustration at racial bias
  • black Americans 2.5x more likely killed by police than white
  • 2020, white police officer filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck during arrest and died
  • protests and Trump threatened to send military
  • police officer convicted of murder, plans for police reform, crowds toppled statues of figures connected to slavery and colonialism
• race: Alt-Right and domestic terrorism

  • 2020, far-right extremists 2/3 terrorist activity
  • 2018, Southern Poverty Law Center, number of white nationalist groups increase by 50%
  • 2017, Trump silent after liberal protester killed at Unite the Right rally
  • 2020 BLM, Trump said ‘when looting starts, shooting starts’
  • 2019, Hispanics targeted as Trump’s stopping illegal immigration from Mexico is priority. 23 people shot in Walmart in Texas
  • 2020, hate crimes against Asian-Americans rose by 150% after Trump called Covid Chinese virus
  • Swastikas and confederate flags in Capitol riots