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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri who filed a suit in Missouri court for his freedom, on the grounds that his residence in a free territory made him a free man. The court held that a person who's ancestors were sold as slaves did not have standing to sue in course even if they were free. Taney also stopped Congress from freeing slaves within Federal territories, and ruled that slaves were property under the Fifth Amendment. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment essentially abolished slavery in the US. It states: “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.” Its main goal, to emancipate all slaves in the US not just the confederate states like the emancipation proclamation did. It allowed for the passing of civil rights acts, but also created black codes. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all people born in the US including former enslaved people, and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” It will become the basis for many landmark Supreme Court decisions over the years, to protect civil rights. The due process clause has been interpreted to guarantee a wide array of rights against infringement by the states, including those enumerated in the Bill of Rights. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment, was created to protect the voting rights of African American men after the Civil War. However discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their right to vote. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied African Americans their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. -
Plessy v Ferguson
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act. Plessy, who was technically black under Louisiana law, agreed to challenge the Act. He sat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to leave when he was told and was arrested. Plessy’s lawyers argued that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The judge found that Louisiana could enforce this law within its boundaries. The majority upheld state-imposed racial segregation. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, ending almost a century of protest. Following the Seneca Falls convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the demand for women's suffrage was the main goal of the women’s rights movement. Activists, raised public awareness and lobbied the government. However, poll taxes, local laws and other restrictions continued to block women of color from voting. It took 40+ years for all women to achieve voting equality. -
Brown v Board of Education
Multiple cases relating to the segregation of public schools. Argued it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court held that it is inherently unequal, and instilled a sense of inferiority having detrimental effect on the education and personal growth of African American children. The decision also used language that was relatively accessible to non-lawyers because Warren felt it was necessary for all Americans to understand its logic. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The 1968 Act prohibited discrimination of the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap and family status. -
24th Amendment
The Twenty-fourth Amendment outlawed the poll tax as a voting requirement in federal elections. It was important to the Civil Rights Movement as it ended mandatory poll taxes that prevented many African Americans from voting. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War like literacy tests and other pre recs needed to vote. Preventing African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Poll Taxes
The poll tax requirements adversely affected poor citizens. It also majorly disenfranchised minorities and women. On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Affirmative Action
The purpose of affirmative action programs is to compensate for past discrimination, introduced in the 1960s to prevent ongoing discrimination and to provide equal opportunities to all regardless of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. -
Reed v Reed
The Idaho Probate Code said that "males must be preferred to females" as administrators of estates. Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be the administrator of their son's estate. Cecil was appointed and Sally challenged the law. Unanimously, the Court held that the law was unconstitutional. The Court argued that "is to make the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." And that it could not be solely on the basis of sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
First proposed by the National Woman's political party in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Bakke, had twice applied for admission to the University of California Medical School and was rejected. The school reserved sixteen places for "qualified" minorities to redress unfair minority exclusions from the medical profession. Bakke's qualifications exceeded those of the minority students and said he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race. The Court said that racial quotas were a violation but also upheld affirmative action. -
Bowers v Hardwick
Georgia police officer saw Hardwick in a act of Homosexuality in his own home. Charged with sodomy, Hardwick challenged. Following a ruling that Hardwick failed to state a claim, the court dismissed. The Court of Appeals held that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional. Georgia's Attorney appealed to the Supreme Court and was granted certiorari. The divided Court found that there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy, and that states could outlaw those practices. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. It highlights employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services. -
Motor Voter Act
Made to advance opportunities to vote by making voter registration easier. However it hasn't had much impact in the modern day. -
White Primaries
White Primaries restricted voting to those whose grandfathers had voted before 1867. A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote. -
Lawrence v Texas
Responding to a reported weapon police entered Lawrence's apartment and saw him and another adult man engaging in a sexual act. They were arrested and convicted of deviate sexual intercourse The State Court of Appeals said the statute was not unconstitutional. The Court held that the Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct violates the Due Process Clause. -
Obergefell v Hodges
Groups of same-sex couples challenged the constitutionality of states' bans on same-sex marriage. The trial court found in favor except the Sixth Circuit. The Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry and that applies to same-sex couples as it does to opposite-sex couples. Judicial precedent is that the right to marry is a fundamental liberty because of individual autonomy, intimate association, and safeguards children and families.
