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Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Illinois and the Louisiana Territory for some time with his master. Since slavery was outlawed in both locations, Scott filed a suit for his freedom in both the Missouri and federal courts. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court ruled against him, stating that no African American, free or enslaved, could be an American citizen, therefore Scott did not have the right to sue in federal court.
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The 13th Amendment to the constitution formally abolishes slavery in the United States. It is one of the three civil war amendments, alongside the 14th and 15th amendments. Specifically, the amendment 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."
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The 14th amendment to the Constitution extends the civil liberties and rights laid out in the Bill of Rights to former slaves. It also grants U.S. citizenship to former slaves. It is part of the three civil war amendments, along side the 13th and 15th amendments. The due process clause of this amendment has been used in many instances to incorporate the Bill of Rights into the states.
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The 15th amendment to the constitution gives African American men the right to vote. This amendment is part of the civil war amendments. While many abolitionists saw the passing of the amendment as the end of the struggle for racial equality, the fight was far from over, as southern states began administering literacy tests and other measures in an effort to suppress black voters. For more than half a decade, African Americans lived as second-class citizens under the Jim Crow laws.
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public facilities was constitutional as long as the separate facilities were equal in quality. This became known as the "separate but equal" doctrine, and it perpetuated over 5 decades of racial discrimination at the hands of Jim Crow laws. The legal rationale for this decision was that Louisiana segregation laws were not on violation of the 14th amendment because white and black Americans were legally "equal".
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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution granted women the right to vote. The fight for women's suffrage most notably began around 1800, so by the time the amendment was passed in 1920, some of the original suffragettes had not lived to see the change their fight brought about. Specifically, the amendment states: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
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White primaries were primary elections in which only whites could vote. These primaries were used in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas in order to disenfranchise minority voters. In Smith v. Allwright, the white primaries in Texas were declared unconstitutional. This decision led to most Southern states ending their practice of white primaries.
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a SCOTUS case in which the court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, no matter whether the facilities were "equal" or not. The rationale for this ruling was that the separation of education facilities was inherently unequal, which violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. However, this ruling did not spell out how desegregation was to be achieved.
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Affirmative action is a set of policies and practices in which an organization participates in order to include individuals based on gender, race, nationality, sexuality, and other factors. Those that participate in affirmative action strive to include certain people in places in which they were previously excluded due to the aforementioned factors. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of affirmative action, but racial quotas are prohibited.
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Poll taxes were essentially a fee that voters had to pay to vote. These were introduced primarily in Southern states after the passage of the 15th amendment as a way to suppress black voters. There was a "grandfather clause" that excused some poor whites from paying poll taxes, but this did not extend to African Americans. Poll taxes for federal elections were outlawed in the 24th Amendment.
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The 24th amendment to the Constitution abolishes poll taxes. Poll taxes were commonly used in Southern states to suppress black (and sometimes poor white) voters. However, this poll tax ban only applied to federal elections, until it was outlawed from all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, under rationale of the 14th amendment's equal protection clause.
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Civil rights legislation was a major goal of President John F. Kennedy, and although he unfortunately didn't live to see such legislation passed, his successor, President Lyndon B Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. The act outlawed segregation in businesses and public spaces. It also banned discriminatory practices in employment.
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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Congress has amended the act five times to extend its protections since its signing into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This act enforces the rights granted by the 14th and 15th amendments and outlaws discriminatory practices such as literacy tests.
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates should not be decided based on sex. Therefore, the Idaho Code's preference for male administrators was unconstitutional, as it violated the 14th amendment. This was the first time SCOTUS ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment prohibited different treatment based on sex.
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The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the constitution that was passed by congress in 1972 but never got ratified by the required number of states. This is due to the conservative backlash against the feminist movement in the mid-1970s. The most recently proposed form of the amendment states: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
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In this case, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action in college admissions, allowing race to be a factor in college admissions processes. However, it ruled that specific racial quotas were unconstitutional. Some judges believed affirmative action was a part of a compelling state interest to pursue diversity in the classroom, while others believed affirmative action was allowed under the constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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In this case, the supreme court upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia law that had the intention of banning certain private homosexual acts. The judges held the opinion that there was no fundamental right to homosexual activity in the constitution & that homosexuality was a crime against nature. This decision is considered to be on the list of SCOTUS's worst decisions.
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The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability. It also requires employers covered by the act to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled employees, and it requires public spaces to be accessible to all. ADA was signed in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush.
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting private homosexual acts between two consenting adults were unconstitutional. The court asserted that those engaging in these acts have a right to privacy and personal autonomy. This decision struck down sodomy laws in 14 states, legalizing homosexual activity through all of America.
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In this case, SCOTUS ruled that same-sex couples had the fundamental constitutional right to marry, which is guaranteed by the due process clause and equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. This ruling legalized gay marriage in the United States. The ruling also means that all states are required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize the validity of such marriages.
