Civil Liberties

1
Civil Liberties Civil Rights

• The Evolution of the Bill of Rights

2
What Civil Liberties Do You Value Most?

1. Freedom of Speech
2. Freedom of Religion
3. Right to a jury trial
4. Freedom of the press
5. Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
6. Right to keep and bear arms
7. Right to control your own property
8. Freedom of assembly
9. Freedom from quartering troops in your own home
10. Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures

3
U.S. Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights (i.e.,
the first 10 amendments to the U.S.
Constitution) were adopted in 1791 to protect
citizens from improper government action
4
Liberty Rights
Freedom Government Control
5
Civil Liberties and Civil RightsWhats the Diff?

• Civil Liberties
• The Bill of Rights
• The legal constitutional protections against the
  government
• Limitations on government power
• What the government cannot do

• Civil Rights
• 14th Amendment
• What the government must do to ensure equal
  protection
• Protects against discriminatory treatment
• Require government action

6
Civil Liberties and the Supreme Court

• Judicial interpretations shape the nature of
  civil liberties, and as these interpretations
  change over time, so do our rights
• To understand the civil liberties and freedoms we
  have, we will examine several key Supreme Court
  decisions
• One of the most common controversies addressed by
  the court
• Should the Bill of Rights apply to STATE
  governments?

7
The Incorporation of the rights

• Barron v Baltimore 1833
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Gitlow v New York 1925
• Gitlow, a socialist, was arrested for
  distributing copies of a "left-wing manifesto"
  that called for the establishment of socialism
  through strikes and class action of any form.
  Gitlow was convicted under a state criminal
  anarchy law, which punished advocating the
  overthrow of the government by force. At his
  trial, Gitlow argued that since there was no
  resulting action flowing from the manifesto's
  publication, the statute penalized utterences
  without propensity to incitement of concrete
  action. The New York courts had decided that
  anyone who advocated the doctrine of violent
  revolution violated the law.

8
The Incorporation of the rights

• Gitlow v New York 1925
• Question 
• Does the New York law punishing the advocacy of
  overthrowing the government an unconstitutional
  violation of the free speech clause of the First
  Amendment?
• Conclusion 
• Threshold issue Does the First Amendment apply
  to the states? Yes, by virtue of the liberty
  protected by due process that no state shall deny
  (14th Amendment). On the merits, a state may
  forbid both speech and publication if they have a
  tendency to result in action dangerous to public
  security, even though such utterances create no
  clear and present danger. The rationale of the
  majority has sometimes been called the "dangerous
  tendency" test. The legislature may decide that
  an entire class of speech is so dangerous that it
  should be prohibited. Those legislative decisions
  will be upheld if not unreasonable, and the
  defendant will be punished even if her speech
  created no danger at all.

9
Selective Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

• The BoR were originally written to protect
  citizens from the national government (Congress
  shall make no law)
• Barron v. Baltimore (1833) The BoR only apply
  to national government NOT the states
• However, over time most liberties protected by
  the BoR have been selectively incorporated (or
  applied) to the states through the 14th
  Amendments due process clause

10
Selective Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

• The first Supreme Court case to selectively
  incorporate a part of the BoR was Gitlow v. New
  York (1925)
• Applies first Amendment protection of free speech
  to the states
• Since Gitlow, the Supreme Court has gradually
  incorporated other selected parts of the BoR to
  the states

11
First Amendment Conflicts

• Just how does the Constitutional statements about
  religion and govt conflict?
• establishment clause
• free exercise clause

http//schlissellaw.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/es
tablishment-clause-separation-church-state1.jpg
12
Rights in Conflict
We know people support rights in theory but their
support may disappear when it comes time to put
those rights into practice - ex demands of
American Nazi Party in 1977 to march through a
Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Ill
13
(No Transcript)
14
Freedom of Religion

• Two Key Principles
• The Establishment Clause The Separation of
  Church and State
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• The Free Exercise Clause
• Prevents the government from prohibiting
  individuals from practicing religion of their
  choice
• How can these two conflict with one another?

15
Effective Oral Arguments

• Morse v. Frederick (2007)
• At a school-supervised event, Joseph Frederick
  held up a banner with the message "Bong Hits 4
  Jesus. Principal Deborah Morse took away the
  banner and suspended Frederick for ten days. She
  justified her actions by citing the school's
  policy against the display of material that
  promotes the use of illegal drugs. Frederick
  argued this action was a violation of his First
  Amendment right to freedom of speech.

16
Freedom of Religion

• Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) Direct state-aid
  cannot be used to fund religious instruction
• Set-up the three-part Lemon test
• For a law to be constitutional under the
  establishment clause, it
• Must have a secular (non-religious) legislative
  purpose
• Can neither advance nor inhibit religion
• Must not result in excessive government
  entanglement
• If any of these conditions are violated, the law
  is unconstitutional but Court has changed opinion

17
Freedom of Religion

• The Establishment Clause Other Issues

• Does prayer in public schools violate
  Establishment Clause?
• YES! Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Wallace v.
  Jaffree (1985)
• What about prayer at graduations?
• YES! Lee v. Weisman (1992)
• Can families use state issued credits (vouchers)
  to purchase private, religious education?
• YES! Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
• What about displays of the Ten Commandments in
  courthouses and other government buildings?
• Yes (Van Orden v. Perry) and No (McCreary County
  v. ACLU), 2005
• Supreme Court OK to display as long as it is
  secular

18
Freedom of Religion

• The Free Exercise Clause
• Prohibits government from interfering with the
  practice of religion
• But not always. Reynolds v. U.S. (1879)
• Some religious practices may conflict with other
  rights, and then be denied or punished
• Oregon v. Smith (1990) Supreme Court rules that
  the state of Oregon could deny unemployment
  benefits to two drug counselors for using peyote
  religiously
• Controversial Freedom Restoration Act (1993)
  passed in response. Declared unconstitutional

19
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Congress shall make no law abridging the
  freedom of speech or of the press
• What is the purpose of free speech and the press?
• Important Note Free speech and press are NOT
  absolute (without restriction)
• Thus, when it comes to free speech and the press,
  it is up to the Supreme Court to determine what
  the government can and cannot regulate

20
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Limiting Speech to Ensure Public Order
• Schenck v. U.S. (1919). Can the government limit
  free speech during wartime?
• Clear and present danger test
• Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) But what constitutes a
  danger?
• The direct incitement test the government can
  punish speech that will likely lead to imminent
  illegal behavior
• Makes it more difficult to punish speech

21
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Protected Speech
• The Supreme Court will not tolerate prior
  restraint (censorship) of speech or the press
  (before the fact)
• Near v. Minnesota (1931) selectively
  incorporates free press
• New York Times v. U.S. (1971) and the Pentagon
  Papers
• The Court has also extended protections to
  symbolic speech
• Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
• Texas v. Johnson (1989) protects flag burning as
  symbolic speech

22
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Protected Speech
• Freedom NOT to Speak
• West Virginia v. Barnette (1943) Students
  cannot be compelled to salute the flag
• If there is any fixed star in our constitutional
  constellation, it is that no official, high or
  petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in
  politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters
  of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word
  or act their faith therein. (Justice Jackson)

23
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Protected (and Unprotected) Speech
• Hate Speech and Fighting Words Can the court
  regulate these types of speech?
• Chaplinksy v. New Hampshire (1942) Words that
  instigate another person to fight can be
  regulated and are not protected by the first
  amendment
• BUT, in R.A.V. v. St. Paul (1992), the Court
  ruled that the first amendment prohibits the
  governments from silencing speech on the basis
  of content (i.e. hate speech)

24
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Unprotected Speech
• Defamation of character Libel (written) and
  slander (spoken)
• NY Times v. Sullivan (1964) Court declares that
  libel must show actual malice or knowing
  disregard for the truth

25
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• Unprotected Speech
• Obscenity But what is considered obscene?
• Roth v. United States (1957) In order to be
  considered unprotected, obscene speech, the must
  be
• utterly without redeeming social importance
• Whether to the average person the dominant
  theme of the material appeals to an unhealthy
  interest in sex (prurience)
• Miller v. California (1971) Tries to make it
  easier for states to define obscenity by adding
  to Roth test
• The work appealed to a prurient interest in sex
• The work portrays sexual conduct in a patently
  offensive way
• The work lacks serious literary, artistic,
  political, or scientific value.

26
Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly

• The Right to Assemble
• What is the purpose?
• To allow citizens to communicate their ideas on
  public issues
• BUT, can conflict with public order, so
  reasonable limits (time, place and manner) can be
  placed on assembly
• Are there limitations on the message of the
  assembly?
• NO! Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949)
• Smith v. Collin (1978)

27
The Right to Privacy Is There a Right to
Privacy in the Constitution?

• Definition the right to a private personal life
  free from the intrusion of government
• Not explicitly stated in the Constitution, but
  implied through the penumbras (implied rights) of
  the Bill of Rights
• Privacy is a transcendent, constitutional value,
  which is fundamental to the American way of life
  and to other basic rights outlined in the Bill of
  Rights
• Supreme Court agrees that a right to privacy
  exists
• Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) CT law outlawing
  access to contraception violated constitutional
  right to privacy of married couples to make
  decisions about their families

28
The Right to Privacy The Abortion Debate Issue
that Proved Problematic during the Health Care
Legislative Process
29
Roe Revisited Planned Parenthood v. Casey
(1992)

• The issue Was the Pennsylvania Abortion Control
  Act of 1982 constitutional?
• Law required that a woman seeking an abortion
  meet several conditions
• Would Roe be overturned?
• No Justice OConnor argued that stare decisis
  (precedent of the Court) required the Court to
  not overturn Roe. 
• A generation of women had come to depend on the
  right to an abortion.
• The Court held that states cannot prohibit
  abortion prior to viability (before the fetus
  could live independently outside of the mothers
  womb). 

30
Roe Revisited Planned Parenthood v. Casey
(1992)

• HOWEVER, the Court allowed certain restrictions
  on abortions
• States can regulate abortions before viability as
  long as the regulation does not place an undue
  burden (substantial obstacle) on the access to
  abortion. 
• After fetal viability, however, states have
  increased power to restrict the availability of
  abortions to protect the health of the woman and
  the potential life of the fetus. 
• Thus, states can pass some laws that regulate
  abortion, but these laws cannot place a
  substantial obstacle in the path of a woman
  seeking an abortion. 
• But what is a substantial obstacle?

31
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Much of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 4, 5, 6,
  7, and 8) apply to people accused of crimes
• Like other civil liberties, defendants rights
  are not clearly defined in the BoR
• Just how speedy is a speedy trial?
• How cruel and unusual must a punishment be to
  violate the 8th amendment?
• Courts continually rule on what action of the
  government is constitutional and what is not.

32
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused
33
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Searches and Seizures
• Probable Cause police must have reason to
  believe that a person should be arrested
• Unreasonable searches and seizures (4th
  Amendment) evidence is obtained in a haphazard
  or random manner, prohibited by the Fourth
  Amendment
• Probable cause and a search warrant are required
  in most cases to make a search and seizure
  constitutional

34
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Searches and Seizures
• Exclusionary Rule the rule that evidence, no
  matter how incriminating, cannot be introduced
  into trial if it was not constitutionally
  obtained
• The Court broadens the application of this rule
  in Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Selective incorporation Because of Mapp, the
  exclusionary rule applies to state governments
• What about the Patriot Act?

35
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Self-Incrimination
• Definition when an individual accused of a crime
  is compelled to be a witness against himself or
  herself in court
• Court has ruled that police must inform suspects
  of these and other Fifth Amendment protections
  upon arrest.
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• However, a coerced confession does not
  necessarily mean a mistrial if it is a harmless
  error

36
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Miranda Warnings
• You have the right to remain silent.
• Anything you say can and will be used against you
  in a court of law.
• You have the right to have an attorney present
  before any questioning.
• If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be
  appointed to represent you before any
  questioning. Do you understand these rights?

37
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• The Right to Counsel (Sixth Amendment)
• Always ensured in federal courts, but not state
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Court rules that the state must provide lawyers
  in the case of a felony

38
The Rights of Defendants and the Accused

• Cruel and Unusual Punishment (8th Amendment)
• Centered around the death penalty
• Furman v. Georgia (1972) Court overturned
  Georgias death penalty law because it punishment
  was arbitrary and random
• Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
• The court has ruled that the death penalty is not
  cruel and unusual.
• It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most
  extreme crimes.

39
Civil Liberties Wrap-up

• Judicial interpretations shape the nature of
  civil liberties, and as these interpretations
  change over time, so do our rights
• To understand the civil liberties and freedoms we
  have (and how they have changed), we examined
  several key Supreme Court decisions
• One of the most common controversies addressed by
  the court
• Should the Bill of Rights apply to STATE
  governments?

40
Civil Rights

• The Struggle for Equality

41
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• The Era of Reconstruction and Resegregation
• Jim Crow laws
• Relegated African Americans to separate
  facilities
• Key question What would the Supreme Court do
  about segregation?

42

• All persons born or naturalized in the United
  States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
  are citizens of the United States and of the
  State wherein they reside. No State shall make or
  enforce any law which shall abridge the
  privileges or immunities of citizens of the
  United States nor shall any State deprive any
  person of life, liberty, or property, without due
  process of law nor deny to any person within its
  jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• Does treating people equally mean treating
  people the same?

43
Introduction Defining Civil Rights

• What Types of Discriminatory Treatment Have
  Groups Faced?
• Racial Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination
• Discrimination based on age, disability, sexual
  orientation and other factors

• Civil Rights
• 14th Amendment issues
• Action required of the government to ensure
  equality
• Protects against discriminatory treatment
• Health Care a Fundamental Right?

44
What does equality mean?

• Conceptions of Equality
• Equal opportunity same chances?
• OR
• Equal results same rewards?
• The Constitution and Inequality
• Equality is not in the original Constitution.
• First mention of equality in the 14th Amendment
  forbids states to deny equal protection of the
  laws
• But what does this mean?

45
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• Key Milestones During The Era of Slavery
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
• Slaves had no rights.
• Invalidated Missouri Compromise
• The Civil War
• The Thirteenth Amendment
• Ratified after Union won the Civil War
• Outlawed slavery
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fifteenth Amendment

46
The Struggle for Equality Segregation,
Equality and the Supreme Court

• Conflicting ideas of what it means to treat
  people equally has presented problems over the
  years for our Supreme Court
• When the SC must decide cases where people claim
  to have been treated "differently" in violation
  of the 14th, justices need to determine whether
  different treatment leads to inequality. Plessy
  v. Ferguson was their first attempt to do this.

47
The Struggle for Racial EqualityPlessy v.
Ferguson (1896)

• The Supreme Court rules in favor of the state of
  Louisiana, declaring that the Separate Car Act
  was constitutional
• Establishes Separate but equal doctrine
  Segregation of blacks and whites was
  constitutional as long as both have access to
  equal facilities
• The Courts reasoning The Constitution and the
  law are not responsible for promoting social
  equality, just equal treatment under the law. Do
  you agree?

48
The Struggle for Racial EqualityPlessy (Contd)

• We consider the underlying fallacy of the
  plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption
  that the enforced separation of the two races
  stamps the colored race with a badge of
  inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason
  of anything found in the act, but solely because
  the colored race chooses to put that construction
  upon it. . . . The argument also assumes that
  social prejudices may be overcome by legislation,
  and that equal rights cannot be secured to the
  negro except by an enforced commingling of the
  two races. We cannot accept this proposition. If
  the two races are to meet upon terms of social
  equality, it must be the result of natural
  affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other's
  merits and a voluntary consent of individuals. .
  . . Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial
  instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon
  physical differences, and the attempt to do so
  can only result in accentuating the difficulties
  of the present situation. If the civil and
  political rights of both races be equal one
  cannot be inferior to the other civilly or
  politically. If one race be inferior to the other
  socially, the Constitution of the United States
  cannot put them upon the same plane

49
The Struggle for Racial EqualityBrown v. Board
of Education (1954)

• Chief Justice Earl Warren argues that in the
  field of public educationseparate but equal has
  no place.
• Separate educational facilities are inherently
  unequal.
• The case overturns Plessy v. Ferguson and ends
  segregation in public schools

50
The Struggle for Racial EqualityBrown II (1955)

• BUT, Brown brought up questions
• How quickly should schools be desegregated?
• What can the Supreme Court do to enforce its
  decisions?
• This question was never addressed in the first
  Brown case!
• In 1955, the Supreme Court rules that a prompt
  and reasonable start to desegregation should
  take place with all deliberate speed.
• What does that mean? With all deliberate
  speed?????
• Desegregating Schools
• Busing of students became the solution for two
  kinds of segregation
• de jure, by law segregation
• de facto, in reality segregation

51
The Struggle for Racial Equality
52
(Furman Pic)
53
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Made racial discrimination illegal in hotels,
  restaurants, and other public accommodation
• Forbade employment discrimination based on race
• Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  (EEOC) to monitor and enforce rules
• Strengthened voting right legislation
• Provided for the withholding of federal funds for
  discriminatory state and local programs
• Authorized Department of Justice to initiate
  lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and
  schools

54
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• Impact of Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Education
• Authorized the federal government to bring action
  against school districts who failed to comply
  with Brown
• Employment
• Title VII of the act prohibited employment
  discrimination based on race, gender, sex, age,
  and national origin

55
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• The Right to Vote
• Suffrage the legal right to vote
• Fifteenth Amendment extended suffrage to African
  Americans
• Restricted Black Voting Rights During Jim Crow
• Poll Taxes small taxes levied on the right to
  vote
• Literacy tests
• White Primary Only whites were allowed to vote
  in the party primaries.

56
The Struggle for Racial Equality

• The Right to Vote
• Twenty-fourth Amendment (1962) eliminated poll
  taxes for federal elections
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped end formal and
  informal barriers to voting
• Ended discriminatory voter registration tests
• Authorized federal voting registrars to sign up
  black voters

57
The Struggle for Racial EqualityAffirmative
Action

• A policy designed to give special attention or
  compensatory treatment to members of some
  previously disadvantaged group.
• Implemented in 1965 by Johnsons executive order

58
The Struggle for Racial EqualityAffirmative
Action

• In education
• Regents of the University of CA v. Bakke (1978)
• First SC case to address constitutionality of AA,
  brought up issue of reverse discrimination
• Court rejected the universitys use of quotas,
  which reserved a fixed number of seats for racial
  minorities
• HOWEVER, Court declared affirmative action
  programs are constitutional if they consider race
  as a "plus" in the application process.

59
The Struggle for Racial EqualityAffirmative
Action

• In education (contd)
• Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
• Gratz Supreme Court struck down U Michigans
  undergraduate point system that awarded points
  to minority applicants because race became a
  deciding factor that did not treat applicants as
  individuals

60
The Struggle for Racial EqualityAffirmative
Action

• In education (contd)
• Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
• Grutter BUT, allowed University of Michigan Law
  School to consider race as one of many factors
  because diversity is a compelling interest in
  higher education
• Significance Court acknowledges that AA
  programs are acceptable and diversity is a
  legitimate goal in education, BUT race can not be
  the predominant factor (no quotas) AND applicants
  must be treated as individuals, not as members of
  a race

61
The Struggle for EqualityAffirmative Action

• In employment
• United Steelworks v. Weber (1979)
• Quotas to remedy past discrimination are
  constitutional.
• Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995)
• To be constitutional, affirmative action must be
  narrowly tailored to meet a compelling
  governmental interest.
• Did not ban affirmative action, but severely
  limited its reach

62
DISCUSSION

• Affirmative Action programs are necessary to
  safeguard equal opportunity in both education and
  employment for minorities

63
Todays Key Questions

• What other groups have historically struggled for
  equal treatment under the law? Which groups
  continue to fight for their civil rights?
• What types of discrimination have these groups
  faced?
• What governmental action has been taken in
  addressing these civil rights issues?

64
The Struggle for Civil Rights Other Groups

• Other minorities
• Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Hispanic
  Americans
• Women
• Disabled
• Older Americans
• Gays and Lesbians

65
The Struggle for Gender Equality

• Early Womens Rights The Battle for the Vote
• Nineteenth Amendment extended suffrage to women
  in 1920
• Fragile alliance of diverse womens groups
  quickly disintegrated
• Widespread womens rights activity would not
  emerge until 1960s

66
The Struggle for Gender Equality

• Equality Under the Law
• National Organization for Women (NOW) pushed for
  Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) from 1923 to 1980s
• Passes in both houses of Congress in 1972
• States fail to ratify over the next eight years
  (35 vote yes, 38 needed)
• Support for amendment has died out as Supreme
  Court has extended 14th Amendment to women

67
The Struggle for Gender Equality

• Equality in Education and Employment
• Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Prohibits gender discrimination by private and
  public employers
• Used to fight sexual harassment
• Title IX of 1972 Educational Amendments
• Prevents educational institutions receiving
  federal funds from discriminating against female
  students
• Often used to ensure equal access, resources and
  funding for sports teams

68
The Struggle for Gender Equality

• Other issues
• Women in the military
• Equal pay
• Sexual harassment
• Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993) Sexual
  harassment violates Civil Rights Act of 1964 when
  the workplace environment becomes hostile or
  abusive
• Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998) The
  employer is responsible for preventing and
  eliminating harassment at work
• Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999)
  Schools can be held liable!

69
The Struggle for Equality Other Minority Groups

• Hispanic Americans
• Largest and fasting growing minority group
• Controversial issues
• Should the government provide services to those
  that enter the country illegally?
• Bilingual education

70
The Struggle for Equality Other Minority Groups

• Asian Americans
• Korematsu v. United States (1944) Court
  declares Japanese internment camps constitutional
  due to a compelling state interest to ensure
  national security during a time of war

71
Controversial Civil Rights Issues Today
72
The Struggle for Equality Disabled Americans

• What discrimination have Americans with
  disabilities faced?
• Government Intervention Americans with
  Disabilities Act of 1990
• Disabled person someone with a physical or
  mental impairment that limits one or more life
  activities
• Guarantees access to public facilities,
  employment, and communication services
• Employers/schools must acquire or modify work
  equipment, adjust schedules, or make facilities
  accessible

73
The Struggle for Equality Disabled Americans

• Controversy Which ailments are considered true
  disabilities?
• Since 1999, the Supreme Court has redefined and
  limited the scope of the ADA. Workers are not
  disabled if their conditions can be corrected
  with medication or devices

74
The Struggle for Equality Older Americans and
Age Discrimination

• Older Americans have traditionally faced
  discrimination in workplace. Why?
• Government Intervention Age Discrimination in
  Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
• Prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the
  basis of age unless is a bona fide requirement
• Targets workers over 40
• To win a lawsuit, the plaintiff must show that an
  employers action (i.e. firing) was motivated by
  age

75
The Struggle for Equality Gays and Lesbians

• What challenges have gays and lesbians faced in
  their struggle for equality?
• Government interventions
• Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Allowed states to ban
  homosexual relations
• Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Overturned Bowers
• Private homosexual acts are protected by the
  Constitution
• Gay marriage Many state constitutions amended
  to prohibit practice, but a MA court decision
  allowed gay marriage
• Controversy Do civil rights protections apply
  here?

76
Civil Rights Wrap-up

• Equality is essential to any democracy!
• Racial minorities and women have struggled for
  equality since the beginning of the republic.
• Our government has purportedly taken action in
  various ways (legislation, amendments, court
  rulings) in order to ensure equality
• Civil rights have expanded to new groups and
  issues of equality continue to be the subject of
  debate

77
DISCUSSION

• The government should actively ensure that as
  many Americans as possible fall under the
  protection of the ADA, including people who
  suffer from AIDS, bad eyesight, and diabetes (for
  example)

78
DEBATE!

• Civil rights and the Fourteenth Amendments
  guarantee of equal protection under the law
  should not apply to gays and lesbians?

79
Right to Bear Arms
80
Right of Privacy
81
Right to Avoid Undo Search and Seizure
82
Right to Free Expression
83
http//www.roninpub.com/TeaParty-flags.gif
84
(No Transcript)
85
Right to Pursuit of Happiness?