CH5 Flashcards
INTERMEDIATE SCRUTINY
a test used by the Supreme Court in gender discrimination cases that places the burden of proof partially on the government and partially on the challengers to show that the law in question is unconstitutional.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
government policies or programs that seek to redress past injustices against specified groups by making special efforts to provide members of those groups with access to educational and employment opportunities.
Discrimination
the use of any unreasonable and unjust criterion of exclusion.
CIVIL RIGHTS
obligation imposed on government to take positive action to protect citizens from any illegal action of government agencies and of other private citizens.
EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE
Launched a century of political movements and legal efforts to press for racial equality. EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE was a provision of the 14th amendment guaranteeing citizens “the equal protection of laws.” this clause has been the basis of the civil rights of African Americans, women and other groups.
13th Amendment
abolished slavery
14th Amendment
guaranteed equal protection under the law and due process
15th Amendment
guaranteed voting rights for African American Men
JIM CROW LAWS
Southern states started the JIM CROW system of social, political, and economic inequality that made a mockery of promises in the constitution. 1st JIM CROW LAWS were adopted in the 1870s in each southern state to criminalize intermarriage of the races and to segregate trains and depots. Followed by laws segregating all public accommodations and within 10 years all southern states had adopted laws segregating schools.
THE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL RULE
The Supreme Court held that the 14th amendments equal protection clause was not violated by racial distinction as long as the facilities were equal establishing THE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL RULE that prevailed through the mid-20th century. People believed that segregated accommodations were equal as long as some accommodations existed for blacks.
BROWN VS BOARD OF EDUCATION
Started when Oliver Brown took his daughter Linda, to enroll in a closer all white school for the summer, in defiance of state law and local segregation rules. When they refused he took the case to the NAACP. The court rejected as inconclusive all the learned arguments about the intent and the history of the 14th amendment and committed itself instead to considering only the consequences of segregation. This case eliminated state power to use race as a criterion of discrimination in law and provided the national government with the power to intervene by exercising strict regulatory policies against discriminatory actions. The national government from then on, had the power to intervene with strict regulatory policies against the discriminatory actions of state or local governments, school boards, employers, and many other in the private sector.
STRICT SCRUTINY
meant that the burden of proof would fall in the government to show that the law in question as constitutional not on the challengers to show the laws unconstitutionality. (on racial discrimination cases and other cases involving civil liberties and civil rights)
DE JURE
(Literally means BY LAW) legally enforced practices such as school segregation in the south before the 1960s
DE FACTO
(Literally means BY FACT) practices that occur even when there is no legal enforcement such as school segregation in the U.S. today
GERRYMANDERING
the apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one racial or ethnic group or political party.
