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Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri temporarily living in the Louisiana Territory and tried to file for his freedom since slavery was prohibited in the region by the Missouri Compromise. In a 7-2 decision by the Supreme Court, they ruled that the Missouri Compromise was a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution because they did not see him as a person, but instead as property. Furthermore, as he was not a person, he did not have the standing to sue in federal courts. -
The significance of the 13th Amendment is that it abolished slavery in every state and territories. At the time, the only way for this to happen was if it was explicitly stated in the Constitution, otherwise people would have continued to make excuses and defend it. It also outlawed any involuntary servitude or peonage. -
This amendment ensured that every person born or naturalized in the United States was not only a citizen but also that they would have equal protection under the law. Former slaves were finally seen as people and not property. -
This allowed for African American men the opportunity to vote by ensuring that states could not deny a man the right to vote based on race, no matter if they were a slave before or not. -
In Louisiana, they enacted the Separate Car Act that segregated rail cars between whites and blacks. Homer Plessy was 7/8 Caucasian and had tried to sit in the whites only car. He was arrested for not leaving when they told him to, but he argued that his 14th and 13th rights were being infringed upon. The court ruled that the Act was unconstitutional and that it did not keep in line with absolute equality for all races. -
This amendment allowed for women to be able to vote. This was similar to the 15th Amendment in the fact that states could deny the right to vote to a certain group of people, but instead of on the basis of race, now they also cannot deny that right on the basis of sex or gender. -
White Primaries was an effort made by the Texas Democratic Party to exclude all African Americans and Hispanic voters from voting in the primary elections. In the case, Smith v. Allwright, Lonnie E. Smith was a black voter that sued the election officials for the right to vote. The courts struck down the law saying that it was a direct infringement of his protection of equal rights under the 14th.
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In Brown v. Board of Education, they argued that the segregation of public schools was against the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th. This court case desegregated public schools on the basis of race saying that equal opportunity is essential, especially in education. -
People were expected to pay a toll before voting in the national elections. These polls were viewed as unconstitutional because they violated the Equal Protections Clause under the 14th Amendment. -
This amendment abolished the poll tax. They argued that this violated the 14th Amendment. This amendment protects the citizens from an elitist society and to further ensure no discrimination in terms of voting rights. -
This acts prohibits the discrimination of people on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sex, religion, etc. This refers to any discrimination in terms of hiring, firing, or promoting. It also prohibited any discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. The integration of desegregation of schools and equal voting rights was strengthened because of this act. -
This act outlawed any discriminatory voting practices in southern states after the Civil War. This included literacy tests or any other kind of prerequisite to vote. This allowed for every African American the opportunity to vote without any restriction. -
Idaho had a law that specified that when appointing administers of estates, that it will automatically go to the man, and not the woman called the Probate Code. This case was important because it did not allow for discrimination on the basis of sex when choosing administers of estates. The courts ruled that the Probate Code had violated the Equal Protections Clause under the 14th.
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This amendment protects people on the basis of sex, gender identification, and sexual orientation. It ensures that the Constitution not only protects the white males with property it was originally made to protect, but also that it cannot deny those same rights to others.
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Universities used to have affirmative action programs to diversify their schools with a certain number of minorities being accepted even if they did not meet the requirements to be accepted. It was later realized that this admissions process was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment and that it violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The racial quotas of the Equal Protections Clause is not excluded to whites. -
In Georgia, two adult men, one of them being Michael Hardwick, were caught in the home of Hardwick performing consensual homosexual sodomy and arrested for it. Georgia had a law that criminalized sodomy, but the court ruled this law unconstitutional as sodomy was not explicitly prohibited in the Constitution. This ruling protected the rights of gay adults to practice private, consensual sodomy all over the country. -
This is a civil rights law that says that prohibits the discrimination against someone with a disability. This includes schools, jobs, transport, or any other public service. People with disabilities are guaranteed the same rights and opportunities as anyone else. -
Affirmative Action refers to the the practice of favoring certain minority groups that have a history of being discriminated against before. Colleges and universities used to have programs specifically made to give opportunities to minorities groups based on race, income, ethnicity, etc. even if they don't meet the requirements to be accepted by the school. It was later ruled unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment. -
Texas had a law against people of the same sex from engaging in certain sexual activities. This case argued that the law was unconstitutional according to the Due Process Clause of the 14th. As long as it is consensual and within the proper age restrictions, the sodomy laws and other homosexual activity laws in other states were also abolished.
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This case deals with the question concerning same-sex marriages. The denial of states to allow or recognize same-sex marriage was in violation of the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause and Equal Protections Clause. They also argued that it fell under a violation of the Civil Rights Act. The courts ruled that states must recognize and allow same-sex marriages because the 14th requires marriage equality.
