Civil Rights Flashcards
1
Q
E+A 3 ways in which landmark rulings of the SC have protected civil rights and liberties in the US
A
- Brown V Board (1954) established the right for students not to be segregated by race
Ended segregation in the south which had previously been allowed by Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
Most significant judgment in history changed the lives of millions
Fed government needed to enforce Little rock nine (1957) the ruling did not automatically ensure protection the law had to be enforced at the expense of state rights - Roe V Wade (1973) gave women the right to abortion in any state
14th amendment right to privacy giving women the right to personal choice concerning their body
Has deteriorated parenthood v Casey (1992) and Gonzales v Carhart led to TRAP laws that reduces assess to clinics
2019 that severely restricted abortions. These were blocked by federal courts but provided the conservative-majority Supreme Court with opportunities to reverse Roe which happened in in 2022 - Columbia V Heller (2008) citizens have the right to bear arms
Liberals argued the 2nd amendment is a collective right as it mentions militia so Columbia put a ban was put on handguns which this ruling marked as unconstitutional
Successful in protecting civil liberties in an era of mass shootings
NRA power explains why gun control has been ineffective
2
Q
E+A 3 ways in which political issues concerning rights and liberties have had an impact on US politics
A
- Abortion has had a very significant impact on US politics
legalised across the country by Roe v Wade (1973). Many pro-life religious groups and
conservatives have campaigned to reverse or erode women’s right to an abortion and have been fiercely opposed by liberals.
Abortion is a partisan issue Democrats are pro-choice and most Republicans are pro-life.
Abortion has been one of the most fiercely fought areas of the USA’s ‘culture wars’ Significant in relation to the selection of new justices for the Supreme Court, who are closely scrutinised for their approach to
Roe v Wade.
The appointment of conservative Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 created a conservative majority on the Court and led many state legislatures to pass laws in 2019 that severely restricted abortions. These were blocked by federal courts but provided the conservative-majority Supreme Court with opportunities to reverse which it chose to do in 2022,
suggesting that abortion will continue to have a major influence on US politics for the foreseeable future. - Gun rights and the influence of the NRA, the significance of District of Columbia v Heller (2008), and the inability of President Obama to introduce gun control legislation after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting.
Impact on US politics because it is so politically divisive, with most Republicans supporting gun rights and most Democrats supporting gun controls.
Despite the fact that a majority of the population support tighter gun restrictions, Congress has been unable to pass legislation, the Supreme Court could strike down gun controls as unconstitutional.
Pattern of sorrow from politicians followed by inaction after each horrific mass shooting. - racial discrimination on US politics. The US political system was challenged by the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The executive and legislature responded with civil rights legislation and the Supreme Court with landmark rulings that ruled racial
discrimination unconstitutional.
Racial discrimination continues to have a significant impact on US politics today, as the Black Lives Matter protests demonstrated. These highlighted the impact of structural racism and inequality on African-Americans and put pressure on federal and state governments to reform the system.
3
Q
E+A 3 ways that pressure groups have contributed to the development of civil right and liberties int he US
A
- pressure groups, particularly the NRA, have defended the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment.
NRA has played a crucial role in preventing this constitutional civil liberty from being
eroded by gun controls.
limits to the NRA’s power, as demonstrated by Trump’s administration introducing a national ban on bump stocks in 2018. - ACLU has defended and developed the civil liberties of all Americans,
through the courts in Brown v Topeka Board of Education (1954), Roe v Wade (1973), and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (2020). The ACLU has had an exceptionally wide-ranging impact on the development of civil liberties, having supported so many different cases at both a state and federal level.
It is unusual that pressure groups are prepared to defend the civil liberties of groups with ideologies that most people find deeply
offensive, e.g. neo-Nazis, although in general its causes tend to be supported by liberals. - The NAACP contributed to the development of the civil rights of African-Americans, during the 1950s and 1060s when its legal campaign to end racial segregation led to its special counsel, lawyer Thurgood Marshall, winning a series of important victories including Shelley v Kraemer (1948) and Brown v Topeka Board of Education (1954).
lobbied Congress to pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964 and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
It ran successful voter registration campaigns to increase the numbers of African-American voters.
NAACP continues to develop civil rights today, through campaigning for equal economic, education, health, criminal justice and voting rights, expanding youth engagement in civil rights, and supporting the Black Lives Matter campaign.
It’s long history, coupled with the dramatic improvements in civil rights to which it has contributed, make it one of the most influential pressure groups in US history.
4
Q
E+A 3 ways that structural theory could be used to study the similarities and differences regarding the protection of civil rights in the UK and US
A
- rights being entrenched in the US
constitution but not in the UK constitution, which is flexible. The Human Rights Act 1998 can therefore be removed by a simple majority vote in Parliament, change to the Bill of Rights requires a formal amendment to the Constitution. I
That this means rights are better protected by the US Constitution, although this can mean that they are difficult to modify in response to an evolving society, as in the case of the Second Amendment. - constitutional sovereignty in the
US and parliamentary sovereignty in the UK. means the Constitution (and by extension the Supreme Court, which interprets it) ultimately decides civil rights in the USA, UK this is decided by Parliament. US civil rights delivered by landmark rulings whereas in the UK they tend to proceed from Acts of Parliament (although the UK Supreme Court has made key rulings on how Parliament’s HRA should be interpreted). This can mean that some US civil rights have less of a democratic mandate, although the Supreme Court’s judgements can ultimately be overruled by a constitutional amendment if a sufficient proportion of members of Congress and state legislatures agree. - campaign finance rules has led to
pressure groups spending far more on political campaigning in the US, where they can spend unlimited amounts. In the UK pressure group spending in elections is highly restricted, giving pressure groups less
influence over elected representatives.
Important impact in the area of gun rights, as the NRA has invested huge amounts in
electoral campaigning (donating $30 million to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, for example). Influence over Republican members of Congress, who have supported the group’s campaign to resist gun controls, despite mass shootings and a majority of US public opinion supporting some form of restrictions. In contrast, the absence of a powerful pro-gun lobby in the UK meant that the Snowdrop Campaign was quickly able to achieve a ban on private handguns in 1997 after the Dunblane massacre 1996
5
Q
E+A 3 ways that rational theory could be used to study the methods used by civil rights campaigns in the UK and US
A
- Martin Luther King Jr. developed the use of non-violent civil disobedience during the 1950s and early 1960s, inspired by the
Mahatma Gandhi against the British during the struggle for Indian independence in the 1930s. This inspired some British civil rights campaigners to use similar tactics in the 1960s, most notably in the Bristol Bus Boycott.
Used more widely in the USA as a rational response to segregation in the Southern states. Members of the public and police responded to tactics such as sit-ins with abuse and violence, and in the full glare of the media spotlight. This helped to shift public attitudes across the USA by raising the profile of racial discrimination and making clear the violent attitudes and actions that accompanied it.
This method was used less frequently in the UK for the rational reason that there was no formal segregation policy to oppose. - Modern-day campaigners used social movements to defend civil rights. The Black Lives Matter movement began in the USA in 2013 following the killing of unarmed Trayvon Martin and quickly spread to the UK. In 2020, Black Lives Matter protests against the
killing of George Floyd by a police officer also spread to the UK, with protesters ignoring Covid-19 lockdown restrictions to protest.UK campaigners saw parallels with the experience of black Britons, who are
disproportionately likely to be arrested and tasered than white Britons.
The use of a social movement as a means to campaign for black civil rights was a rational
response in both countries, as it allowed thousands of people to participate without the need for formal membership.
The use of social media allowed celebrities, political figures and opinion formers
to participate without needing to attend a demonstration and helped to generate a profound debate about racial discrimination in both countries. - US civil rights campaigns have used the courts more than UK campaigns for rational reasons. The ability of the Supreme Court to make landmark rulings has led many
campaigns to focus their efforts there. Civil liberties campaigners, such as the ACLU and civil rights campaigners such as the NAACP, have mounted legal challenges that have produced a fundamental change in the way the Constitution is interpreted, expanding the protection of civil rights and liberties. In your
analysis
UK pressure groups have increased their use of the courts since the HRA in 1998, leading to some important legal victories. However, given the expense of legal action and the real possibility that any UK Supreme Court decision can be overruled by Parliament, it makes sense for UK campaigners to continue to adopt a balanced approach. This will continue to focus heavily on lobbying Parliament and the government while employing the strategic use of legal action
6
Q
E+A 3 ways that cultural theory could be used to study the debated about civil rights issues in the UK and US
A
- The two cultures both value individual liberty and a culture of pluralism.
Reflected in tradition of civil liberties in the Magna Carta and the USA’s entrenchment of civil liberties in the Bill of Rights.
However, US political culture is more suspicious of government control, with many conservatives deeply opposed to the idea of ‘big government’, and a flourishing libertarian movement in existence as well.
UK conservatives have often been critical of ‘the nanny state’ when public health
interventions, such as the ban on smoking in public places, have been debated. Nevertheless, the UK’s experience of state control during the Second World War, and the subsequent development of the NHS, has created a culture in which it is generally accepted that government can have a positive role by reaching into people’s lives.
USA saw much bigger protests than the UK did against the lockdown restrictions during the Covid-19 crisis, including clashes between police and armed protesters. The federal culture also exacerbates the tendency to resist government control, with many
conservatives having defended ‘states rights’ against landmark Supreme Court civil rights judgements. - Religious issues are much more prominent in US culture due their highly religious society. Around 56% of Americans consider themselves religious, but just 30% of British people do. In both countries, some religious groups feel their rights are threatened by liberal policies that condone behaviours (such as same-sex relationships or abortion) contrary to their beliefs, but these concerns are more widespread and therefore more politically significant in the USA
Religious opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage has played an important role in the USA’s ‘culture wars’, but religious groups have occasionally supported liberal causes,
such as Amendment 4 which was brought about in 2018 and gave former felons the right to vote in Florida.
The Church of England has supported the Black Lives Matter campaign and criticised government austerity policies, so religious groups in both countries can play an important role in a broad range of civil
rights debates. - cultural attitudes to race are the source of debates about the civil rights of ethnic minorities in both countries. The Black Lives Matter social movement was set up in
2013 to highlight the discrimination and violence African-Americans faced from members of the public and the police. It quickly spread to the UK, where black Britons also face inequality and discrimination.
Black Lives Matter movement claims that a culture of racism exists deeply within each society. Government institutions in both countries are supported by many liberals
and progressives who highlight a host of statistics, including those that show black citizens are disproportionally more likely to be targeted in both the USA and UK. Many conservatives dispute this, arguing that individual acts of racism do not equate to a fundamentally racist culture or society. A
subculture of white supremacy also exists, which has been linked to domestic terrorism in the USA and racist attacks in the UK
