Magruder’s American Government
1st Edition
ISBN: 9780133306996
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Section 9-4: Federal Civil Rights Laws
Exercise 1
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**Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972**, is an amendment annexed to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This amendment puts an end to legal gender discrimination in the education system and activities related to education, such as the Supreme Court ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case put an end to legal racial discrimination in the stated system.
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The case that had the same effect on gender discrimination in education is considered to be **Title IX of the Education Amendments Act** (1972).
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The **act states** that: “ No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”.
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This resulted in **equal educational opportunities for women** in a financial and opportunistic way. Following the successful act, women’s sports rapidly increased.
Exercise 2
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted after the longest debate in Senate history and is the most far-reaching law passed that regards equality, bypassing the Brown v. Educational Board case. It was instantly implied to the system, compared to the Brown case that took years for implementation. It included most, if not all, circumstances where discrimination is a possibility.
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The act forbids discrimination in numerous areas of society. **The Civil Rights Act content includes**:
* No individual shall be denied access to public accommodations based on gender, race, skin color et cetera.
* Forbidden discrimination of any individual based on race, skin color, religion, and gender.
* The third point prohibits discrimination in the workplace and labor matters.
* No individual shall be denied access to public accommodations based on gender, race, skin color et cetera.
* Forbidden discrimination of any individual based on race, skin color, religion, and gender.
* The third point prohibits discrimination in the workplace and labor matters.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was more effective for the process of abolishing discrimination than the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education case.
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First of all, it is a law passed by the Congress after a very thorough debate, which is why it had a greater legal significance in relation to the judgment of the Supreme Court in one particular case.
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Furthermore, this law effectively entered into force immediately after its adoption, while the mentioned judgment allowed a certain longer time frame for implementation (later it turned out that this framework was as long as 15 years).
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Finally, this law addressed discrimination on all grounds and in all circumstances, while the judgment addressed only one specific type of discrimination (racial discrimination in the school system).
Exercise 3
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The adoption of laws concerning civil rights in the United States began long after the enactment of the Constitution. From the early 1950s, Congress decided to finally pass a series of laws concerning civil rights.
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Civil rights movements have had a great influence on the adoption of these laws. Peaceful civil rights movements, most often carried out by minorities, were the trigger for the start of the adoption of civil law legislation for several reasons.
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First of all, these movements were peaceful, but the government responded to them sharply, and sometimes very violently. The media recorded and transmitted this disproportion in the behavior between members of civil movements and law enforcement forces, which influenced the formation of public opinion. The public began to sympathize with minorities and to consider more deeply the problems and difficulties they face, which led to pressure on politicians who could no longer avoid dealing with this topic.
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Furthermore, the leaders of the civil movements, such as Martin Luther King, were very good speakers. They presented to the public in a clear way a whole range of problems and challenges faced by members of minorities.
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The **peaceful civil rights movement** is justified because of the peaceful nature that allows it to influence the reason for the movement to the fullest.
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The government is based on **popular sovereignty**. What else shows characteristics of popular sovereignty better than a peaceful public rights movement. It is elected officials job to bring changes that the society demands, so it is of no surprise the politicians (especially the elected ones) adapted to society by implementing laws.
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Society has recognized discrimination issues and showed support through various activities that formed a public opinion and the future outcome with **Martin Luther King** as the leader.
Exercise 4
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Following the enactment of civil rights laws, discrimination against minorities was legally prohibited. However, the question of the consequences of discrimination that has occurred in the past remains open.
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There were a large number of persons who suffered some form of discrimination before the enactment of legislation, and in whom the consequences of discrimination were still present. In order to mitigate them, the government began to implement **a policy of affirmative action.**
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Under this policy, for example, employers had to follow certain rules when hiring, such as providing a certain percentage of jobs for women or members of a minority. The number of jobs that needed to be allocated to members of a particular group was called **a quota.**
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**Affirmative actions** are policies and activities that favor groups known for facing discrimination. The policies aim to increase the opportunity level for education and employment of minorities. They support the underrepresented compound of society that is primarily characterized by skin color, gender, religion, and background.
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**Quotas** represented the number of required employment spots the employee needs to allocate to the targeted social group.
Exercise 5
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The **Supreme Courts’ decisions about affirmative action** change over time because they are made to fit undergoing needs of minorities. If there is no discrimination, there won’t be a need for affirmative action. Opposing to that is when there is action, the government enacts policies that help resolve discrimination issues.
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The decisions for affirmative action in the past were mainly based on the **Equal Protection Clause**. There are a number of cases where the court made affirmative actions to fit the given circumstance.
The government hopes there will be less need for affirmative actions due to discrimination matters falling into the right place to be resolved eventually. For this reason, the government keeps adjusting the affirmative actions.
The government hopes there will be less need for affirmative actions due to discrimination matters falling into the right place to be resolved eventually. For this reason, the government keeps adjusting the affirmative actions.
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**Affirmative action** policy was established to mitigate the consequences of discrimination against minorities that occurred before it was definitively prohibited by a set of civil right laws.
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This policy has been both supported and challenged and as such has been considered in cases before the Supreme Court. Proponents of this policy believed that it was fair to people whose lives had been irreversibly discriminated against, while opponents believed that it led to the reverse discrimination.
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Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978 was the first major case with the topic of affirmative action to be considered before the Supreme Court. Bakke was a white man who could not enroll in the desired school even though he had all the necessary conditions because the quota for enrolling whites was filled. The court ruled in this case that there was a reverse discrimination which violated the Equal Protection Clause and that Bakke should be enrolled in school.
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In later cases, all the way to Adarand Constructors v. Pena case from 1995, the Court was largely supported the affirmative action policy. In the said case, the Court took the opinion that affirmative action could be taken only if it proved to really serve the interests of the government.
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In 21st century cases, the court has rendered several judgments from which it can be concluded that it has moved away from the policy of affirmative action.
The most significant cases were from 2003, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. in which the Court upheld the affirmative action of the State of Michigan. However, in the opinion of the majority expressed by Judge Sandra Day O’Connor, the view was taken that it was expected that in the future there would no longer be a need for affirmative action programs with regard to race.
The most significant cases were from 2003, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. in which the Court upheld the affirmative action of the State of Michigan. However, in the opinion of the majority expressed by Judge Sandra Day O’Connor, the view was taken that it was expected that in the future there would no longer be a need for affirmative action programs with regard to race.
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In subsequent cases in 2007 and 2009, the Court took the opinion that the affirmative action had led to reverse discrimination and that there had been a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
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