Unit 4- Civil Rights
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Created by:
cristomicds on November 21, 2011
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Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Achievement Gap | refers to the observed disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. |
| Affirmative action | a policy designed to give special attention to or conensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged gropu |
| Black Codes | laws put in place in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the basic human rights and civil liberties of blacks. Like Jim Crow Laws, but used to control labor and migration, not just segregation and voting. |
| Civil liberties | the legal constitutional protections against government. Although our civil liberties are formally set down in the Bill of Rights, the courts, police, and legislatures define their meaning |
| Civil rights | policies designed to protect people against aribrary or discriminatory treatement by government officials or individuals |
| De facto segregation | segregation in which people make their own choices to stay segregated; it is not enforced by law. Good example is churches, where many are mostly either white or black |
| Defense of Marriage Act | Federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage. States do not have to recognize same sex marriage from another state. This should be unconstitutional because of the full faith and credit act, but there hasn't been a case against it so Supreme Court can't do anything |
| De jure segregation | segregation enforced by government, such as Jim Crow Laws and |
| Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) | is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. it investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence, and disability |
| Equal Rights Amendment | a constitutional amendemtn originally introduced by Congress in 1923 and passed by congress in 1972., stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by andy state on account of sex". The amendment fell short of the ¾ of the state legislatures required for passage. |
| Glass ceiling | the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements |
| Grandfather clause | cant vote unless your grandfather did- used to keep black voters from voting after Civil War |
| Hate crime | a crime that is committed against someone because of their race, religion, sexual orientation. |
| Jim Crow laws | laws (mainly in the south), that were used to enforce segregation |
| Quotas | ruled unconstitutional by supreme court in u of california v Bakke. colleges can have a "critical mass" of minorities, but cannot have a specific number. |
| Racial profiling | refers to the use of an individual's race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. make a traffic stop or arrest) |
| Reasonable Basis Test | given to cases in which there is no suspect class used to divide the people. To win, the government only has to show a rational reason that the law is in place. Under this level of scrutiny, the law is most likely to be found constitutional. ex. Drivers licenses can only be given to those 16 and up because it is unsafe to give them to 10 year olds. |
| Moderate Scrutiny Test | if the suspect class is sex, the Supreme court will apply a middle level of scrutiny. In order to win, the government must show that its law is substantially related to an important government objective. The government has a higher burden of proof, but it is not impossible to meet.For example, if an all-male draft was reinstated, there would be an argument about the exclusion of women, and the Supreme court would apply the moderate level of scrutiny. |
| Strict scrutiny test | If the suspect class is race, ethnicity or the exercise of a fundamental right, Supreme Court will apply the highest level of scrutiny. In order to win, the government must show that its law that treats people differently is necessarily related to a compelling government interest. it is most likely that the law will be found to be unconstitutional. |
| Segregation | separation of racial groups in society. Segregation in the south was promoted and enforced through Jim Crow laws and Black Codes |
| Separate but equal | established in Plessy v Fergeson and upheld until Brown v Board of Education. |
| Title IX | any educational institutions that are either receiving federal aid or admit students who receive federal aid are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of sex. Affects sports programs (programs must have equal funding for men's and women's sports) |
| White primary | primary elections from which blacks were excluded- popular in the south, and became constitutional in 1944 |
| Plessy | 1896 supreme court decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring "equal but separate acommodations for the white and colored races" was constiutitional |
| Brown | the 1954 supreme court decision holding that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the US |
| Regents of the University of California v Bakke | a 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could weigh race or ethnic background as one element in admissions, but could not set aside places for members of particular racial groups. |
| U Michigan cases | undergraduate was ruled unconstitional because it gave an automatic 20 pt bonus to minorities, and thus it did not have an individualistic approach. The Law school had a "critical mass" of minorities that it needed to have; this was ruled constitutional because it offered an individualistic approach to admitting minorities. |
| Seattle and Louisville cases (percentage range) | Supreme Court said that they were unconstitutional because it is a violation of equal protection |
| Bower v. Hardwick | in 1986, Supreme Court ruled that states could ban homosexual relations. |
| Lawrence v. Texas | in 2003, Supreme Court overturned Bower v Hardwick when it voided a Texas antisodomy law because it was against substantive due process and intrusions on the right to privacy |
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