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Dred Scott vs. Sandford
A case about the emancipation of slaves based on the Missouri Compromise of 1820. As a result of the Supreme Court Case, slaves that moved to free states were not considered free, and therefore still a slave. The court also ruled that slaves are property of slave owners and any law against that is unconstitutional. The court also declared that any African-American, whose ancestors were sold into slavery in America, whether they be free or enslaved at the time could not be an American citizen. -
13th Amendment
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This actually freed the slaves in America unlike the Emancipation Proclamation. -
14th Amendment
All people born or naturalized in the United States of America is a citizen of the country and the State where they reside. No state can deprive a citizen of their basic human rights or rights declared in the Constitution. This was easily not enforced by congress. -
15th Amendment
Voting rights cannot be taken based on race, color, or previous servitude. This was not heavily enforced by Congress because of the Jim Crow laws, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests that prevented African-Americans from voting in the South. -
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Poll Taxes
A poll tax must be paid before voting, and a certificate of the payment must be shown at the polls. Poll taxes were generally used in many countries worldwide. It was mostly used after the 15th Amendment was ratified in the South. The Southern states used this tax to prevent newly freed slaves and their descendants from voting since slaves weren't given much or any compensation for their suffering. -
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White Primaries
Following Reconstruction in the South, many precautions were put into place by the democratic voters to keep black voters from voting. White primaries were exactly how they sound. They were normal primaries that were held in the South, but only white voters could participate. The Supreme Court ruled white primaries unconstitutional in Smith vs. Allwright because it violated the 14th amendment. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
This court case was all about segregation of common transportation and public accommodations. The Supreme Court evidently found that "separate but equal" institutions do not violate the 13th and 14th amendments. The railway in question, which separated whites and blacks into different cars, was found to not have any differences in quality between the two separated cars. -
19th Amendment
This gave women across America the right to vote. The amendment stated that the right to vote may not be abridged a State or America on account of sex. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This court case reversed the effects of Plessy vs. Ferguson. The Supreme Court found that the segregation of public schools based on race and "separate but equal" institutions were in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This was justified through the reasoning that just being separate based on race inherits inequality. -
Affirmative Action
President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925 to create the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. This started affirmative action, the process of requiring organizations and businesses to take positive steps towards increasing the number of women, African-Americans, or other minorities in membership. -
24th Amendment
This took away the requirement to have to pay a poll tax in order to cast any votes. This overpowered the Jim Crow Laws in the post-Reconstruction South that made attempts to keep minorities from voting, as many of them were kept poor. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This also prohibited the discrimination of race and sex in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, this act outlawed the use of discriminatory Voting Laws commonly used in the South after the Civil War. Such laws like the literacy tests were prerequisites to voting aimed at keeping African-Americans from voting. -
Reed vs. Reed
In Idaho, there was a law that it be required to prefer males over females in the case of appointing administration of estates. The Supreme Court found this to be in direct violation of the 14th amendment's Equal Protection Clause. This helped push forward the movement for the ERA and equal legal treatment no matter the sex of a person. -
Regents of the Univ. of Cal. vs. Bakke
The Supreme Court found that using race for criterion or having a racial quota in a school or government body violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They sided with Bakke, a white man who was denied admission into a school because they saved 16 seats for African-Americans as affirmative Action. At the same time, they were in favor with affirmative action to bring African-American more into our society. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed equal rights for everyone despite sex. This would help to end legal distinctions between sexes like in divorces, property, and employment. The amendment was passed through Congress and sent to the states to be ratified as an amendment. It needed 38 states to be ratified originally by March of 1979. In 1978, the deadline was extended to June 30, 1982. This is where it's timeline ended 3 votes short. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick
Hardwick was found by a police officer having sex with another man in the privacy of his own home. At the time, Georgia had outlawed sodomy, so Hardwick was arrested. The court of appeals reversed Hardwick's guilty conviction, so the state of Georgia's Attorney General, Bowers, took it to the Supreme Court. The court ruled that the Constitution does not provide protection against laws that make it illegal to practice homosexual sex. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act outlaws discrimination of Americans based on disabilities. This includes employment, transportation, government programs and services, communication, and public accommodations. -
Lawrence vs. Texas
The same situation as Bowers vs. Hardwick. Two men were found having consensual sex in the privacy of their own home. They were arrested and taken to court. Now the Supreme Court had the choice of whether or not to overturn the previous case of Bowers vs. Hardwick. In a 6-3 vote, they did so. The Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment gave them the right to liberty. Therefore, they can engage in their conduct without government intervention. -
Obergefell vs. Hodges
Many states had outlawed same-sex marriage or did not recognize the marriages of same-sex couples from states where it was legal. In this court case, the Supreme Court overruled this. They stated that there is no fundamental difference between same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Therefore, same-sex marriages are protected under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.
