RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS
To
assure "liberty and justice for all" two additional constitutional
amendments were passed. The Thirteenth
Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery. The Fourteenth
Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and forbid states to deny their citizens due
process of law or equal protection of the law, which made certain provisions of
the Bill of
Rights applicable to all states.
The promise of equality set out
in the Declaration
of Independence and the Fourteenth Amendment is one of American nation's
most ambitious ideals. But what does equality mean? Does it mean that every
American receives the same treatment? Does it mean that everyone has equal
opportunities? Or does it mean something else?
Neither the Declaration of
Independence nor the Fourteenth Amendment eliminated prejudice and
discrimination. Prejudice, as an attitude, and discrimination, as a behavior
have continued to cause grave civil rights problems in American society. To the
extent that neither treatment nor opportunities are equal, society must decide
how to respond to the challenge of continuing discrimination in a way that is
both effective and fair. Laws,
regulations, amendments to the Constitution, and court decisions are among avenues
by which the government may respond to discrimination. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth,
and Twenty-Fourth
Amendments were ratified in attempts to make equality a reality. Numerous
decisions of the Supreme Court are regarded as landmarks because of dramatic
changes they called for in the struggle to halt discrimination. And
legislatures at local, state, and national levels have passed numerous laws
prohibiting discrimination. However, U.S history is also marked by long periods
in which laws were not enforced, unconstitutional practices were permitted to
go on, and court rulings had the effect of spreading rather than ending
discrimination. Today, we still face consequences of these unfortunate chapters
in American history.
In 1896, for example, the
Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was permissible thus
separating blacks from whites in schools, restaurants, street and railroad
cars, hospitals and even cemeteries. This doctrine known as "separate but
equal" was in place for nearly 60 years. Because "separate but
equal" lasted so long, many Americans came to think of segregation as
appropriate or even desirable. The Plessy case is one example of the Supreme
Court's power to interpret the Constitution in a manner that resulted in less
equal opportunity.
The power of the Supreme Court
to promote equal opportunity is illustrated by its 1954 reversal of the Plessy
case in its Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka decision. Thurgood Marshall, who later
became the first African-American Supreme Court justice, presented compelling arguments
against separating school children by race, asserting that segregation is
inherently unequal. The decision of the Court in Brown case established that
"separate but equal" schools were illegal. The Court agreed that such
school systems were separate but unequal, and that they therefore deprived the
black students of the equal protection of the laws.
The Brown decision was followed
by the Civil Rights Movement, which resulted in significant legislation: the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and 1968, which prohibited discrimination based on race,
religion, and national origin in employment, housing and use of public
accommodations, such as hotels, motels and transportation facilities. The 1972
Equal Employment Opportunity Act amended 1964 law and prohibited discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in employment of any
kind, public or private, local, state or federal.
Learn more about equal protection by visiting the following Web
sites:
Historic Supreme Court Decisions