Steven Tsay

AP US gov

I)

Chapter 5 outline
Americans have attained substantial equality under the law
Legal equality for all Americans does not result in de facto equality
Disadvantaged groups have to struggle for equal rights
Idea of equality through law not uncommon in the united states- Jefferson all
men created equal
A) Only rich white males
B) The Fourteenth Amendment- equal protection rights
i) Equal-protection clause: equal treatment under the law; no state shall
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
ii) Effectiveness not really apparent/ not used by supreme court until
recently during the civil rights movement

(a) Plessy v. Ferguson established a separate but equal society,

counters the use of said clause
(a) Repealed in 1930
iii) Brown v. Board of Education- first substantial supreme court intervention
for equality, overturned Plessy v.Ferguson
(a) Linda Brown denied admission all white elementary school- black
school too far away
(b) Cite 14th amendment as justification
(c) National guard Arkansas governor blocked school entrance, Eisenhower
federalized national guard
iv) Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Board of Education- busing
children out of neighborhoods is constitutional for the purpose of racial
integration
(a) White flight, forced bussing stopped in 2007
(b) Increase result for black children
C) Supreme court test for racial equality:
i) Reasonably-basis test
(a) Reasonable and push for government interest
(a) Example age discrimination- drunk people discrimination
ii) Scrict-scrutiny test
(a) For racial or ethnic , if treated people differently, the law is
automatically assumed e is unconstitutional unless there is
compelling evidence
(a) Race and National origin sntuspect classifications- presumed to
be discriminatory
(b) Gender still apply, but to a much lesser extreme
(i) Craig v. Boren-gender as Intermediate Scrutiny
(ii) Loving v. Virginia interracial marriage banned, ruled
unconstitutional
(iii)Rostker v. Goldberg: constitutional to exclude women from
serving duty
II) Civil rights Act of 1964
A) Does not include private fascilties 14th amendment, addressed in 1964
i) Justified by governments right to regulate interstate commerce

ii) entitles all persons to equal access to public accommodations and bars
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the
hiring, promotion, and wages of employees of medium-size and large
firms
B) Gays and lesbians
i) 1996 defense of marriage act- a legal union of one man and one woman
as husband and wife, legal to deny marriage

ii) recent Obergefell v. Hodges- marriage supported