Equality And The Constitution The Declaration of Independence: all men are created equal The Constitution and slavery o whole number of free persons (Art. I, Sec. 2, cl. 3) o three fifths of all other Persons (Art. I, Sec. 2, cl. 3) o No ban on the importation of such Persons until 1808 (Art. I, Sec. 9, cl. 1) o The fugitive slave clause (Art. IV, Sec. 2, cl. 2)
Equality And The Constitution State v. Post (N.J. 1845) If the state convention intended to abolish slavery it would have adopted some clear and definite provision to effect it The United States Constitution recognizes slavery judges must be more than men, if they can always escape the influence of a strong popular opinion of society
Equality And The Constitution Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) o Facts; issue Was Scott a citizen of Missouri for diversity purposes? They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.... This opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race.
Dred Scott (cont.) Did Scott remain an enslaved person after his sojourn in the Louisiana Territory and Illinois? The right of property in a slave and to traffic in it is expressly affirmed by the Constitution. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 is unconstitutional
Equality And The Constitution Reconstruction Thirteenth Amendment The Black Codes The Civil Rights Act of 1866 The Fourteenth Amendment The Fifteenth Amendment
Equality And The Constitution The Slaughter-House Cases (1873) United States v. Cruikshank (1875) The Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Equality And The Constitution Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) The Separate Car Law The object of the Fourteenth Amendment Is the Louisiana law a reasonable regulation? The fallacy of the plaintiff s argument? Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts ; the Constitution cannot put the races on the same social plane
Plessy (cont.) Justice Harlan s dissent Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is... So, I doubt not, it will continue to be for all time... There is a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to become citizens of the United States.
The Road To Brown Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938) Sipuel v. Board of Regents (1948) Sweatt v. Painter (1950) McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950)
Linda Brown
Equality And The Constitution Brown v. Board of Education (1954) (Brown I) we cannot turn the clock back to 1868 when the Amendment was adopted, or even to 1896 when [Plessy] was written ; Today To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.
Is Plessy overruled? Footnote 11 Brown I (cont.) Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Holding Bolling v. Sharpe (1954): held, Court school segregation in the District of Columbia violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment
Equality And The Constitution Brown v. Board of Education (1955) (Brown II) Cases remanded At stake is the personal interest of the plaintiffs in admission to public schools as soon as practicable on a nondiscriminatory basis. with all deliberate speed
Equal Protection Methodology Strict scrutiny o Compelling governmental interests/narrowly tailored means Intermediate scrutiny o Important governmental objectives/substantially related means Rational basis review o Legitimate governmental objectives/rationally related means o Judicial deference to legislators
Equal Protection Methodology Rational Basis Review New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer (1979) o Facts; issue Rational basis review: the challenged action must bear a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest Legislative classifications are valid unless they bear no rational relationship to the State s objectives.
Rational Basis Review U.S. Dept. of Agriculture v. Moreno (1973) o a bare congressional desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center (1985) o The case appears to us to rest on an irrational prejudice against the mentally retarded... Romer v. Evans (1996) o the amendment seems inexplicable by anything but animus toward the class it affects
Rational Basis Review Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co. (1981) o The purposes cited by the legislature are legitimate. o States are not required to convince the courts of the correctness of their legislative judgments. Railway Express Agency v. New York (1949) o local authorities may well have concluded o It is no requirement of equal protection that all evils of the same genus be eradicated or none at all. Williamson v. Lee Optical (1955) o reform may take one step at a time Class of one claims
Practice Question One hour Closed book Assigned materials in Chapters I and II Question must be returned