Chapter 5 Vocab: Equal Rights: Struggling Toward Fairness

Question 1

Equal rights (civil rights)

Answer 1

The right of every person to equal protection under the laws and equal access to society’s opportunities and public facilities.

Question 2

Equal-protection clause

Answer 2

A clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny equal protection of the laws to any individual within its jurisdiction.

Question 3

Reasonable-basis test

Answer 3

A test applied by courts to laws that treat individuals unequally. Such a law may be deemed constitutional if its purpose is held to be “reasonably” related to a legitimate government interest.

Question 4

Suspect classifications

Answer 4

Legal classifications, such as race and national origin, that have invidious discrimination as their purpose and therefore are unconstitutional. (See also “strict-scrutiny test”)

Question 5

Strict-scrutiny test

Answer 5

A test applied by courts to laws that attempt a racial or ethnic classification. In effect, the strict-scrutiny test eliminates race or ethnicity as legal classification when it places minority-group members at a disadvantage. (See also “suspect classifications”)

Question 6

Affirmative action

Answer 6

Programs designed to ensure that women, minorities, and other traditionally disadvantaged groups have full and equal opportunities in employment, education, and other areas of life.

Question 7

De jure discrimination

Answer 7

Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, and the like that results from a law. (See also “de facto discrimination”)

Question 8

De facto discrimination

Answer 8

Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, and the like that results from social, economic, and cultural biases and conditions. (See also “de jure discrimination”)