Civil Rights

1
Civil Rights

• Unit 5

2
Civil Rights

• Key Questions/Ideas
• How can the government best ensure equal rights
  for all?
• Why is the Supreme Court so important in
  determining civil rights?
• Explain the concept of equality and assess the
  rights of citizens.
• Compare and contrast the efforts of various
  groups to obtain equal protection of the laws.
• Analyze the Supreme Courts three-tiered approach
  used to evaluate discriminatory laws.
• Trace the evolution of voting rights and analyze
  the protections provided by the 1965 Voting
  Rights Act.
• Describe congressional legislation against
  discrimination in housing, employment, and
  accommodations.
• Evaluate the historical process of school
  integration and the current state of affirmative
  action.
• Asses the status of civil rights in the US today.

• Areas of Study
• Equality and Equal Rights
• The Quest for Equal Justice
• Equal Protection of the Laws
• Voting Rights
• Rights To Equal Access
• Education Rights

3

• The story of civil rights in the US is the
  struggle to reconcile our ideals as a nation with
  the realities of discrimination individuals and
  groups may still encounter in daily life.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous
Declaration of the thirteen united States of
America, When in the Course of human events, it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation. We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.--That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the
governed, --That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light
and transient causes and accordingly all
experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms
to which they are accustomed. But when a long
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their
right, it is their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for their
future security.--Such has been the patient
sufferance of these Colonies and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their
former Systems of Government. The history of the
present King of Great Britain is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in
direct object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let
Facts be submitted to a candid world.
4
AMENDMENT XIV Section 1.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.

• Civil Liberties
• Civil Rights

5
Incorporation
Case Year Provision Amendment
Gitlow v. New York 1925 Freedom of speech First
Near v. Minnesota 1931 Freedom of the press First
Powell v. Alabama 1932 Right to counsel in capital cases Sixth
De Jonge v. Oregon 1937 Freedom of assembly, right to petition First
Cantwell v. Connecticut 1940 Free exercise of religion First
Everson v. Board of Education 1947 No establishment of religion First
In re Oliver 1948 Right to public trial Sixth
Wolf v. Colorado 1949 Right against unreasonable search and seizure Fourth
Mapp v. Ohio 1961 Exclusionary rule Fourth (and Fifth h)
Robinson v. California 1962 Right against cruel and unusual punishment Eighth
Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 Right to counsel in felony cases Sixth
Malloy v. Hogan 1964 Right against self-incrimination Fifth h
Pointer v. Texas 1965 Right to confront witnesses Sixth
Griswold v. Connecticut 1965 Privacy First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth
Parker v. Gladden 1966 Right to impartial jury Sixth
Klopfer v. North Carolina 1967 Right to speedy trial Sixth
Washington v. Texas 1967 Right to compulsory process Sixth
Duncan v. Louisiana 1968 Right to jury trial in cases involving serious crime Sixth
Benton v. Maryland 1969 Right against double jeopardy Fifth h
Argersinger v. Hamlin 1972 Right to counsel in any criminal case with potential sentence of incarceration Sixth