Lesson 39 of 1524
Civil Rights
A civil right is a claim to equal treatment by government and, through statutes, by many private institutions.
Practice this chapterThe path from the Civil War amendments through Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education is a change in what “equal” was allowed to mean. Plessy accepted segregation. Brown said separate schools were inherently unequal.
A suspect classification, such as race, triggers the strictest review. That does not mean every law that mentions a group is illegal. It means the government must show a compelling interest and a narrowly tailored means.
Levels of scrutiny
Strict, then intermediate, then rational basis
The label of the classification picks the test. The test decides how hard the government’s reason must be.
Worked example
A state university uses race as one factor in admissions. A challenger says the policy violates equal protection. Which level of scrutiny applies, and what must the state show?
- 1Identify the classification. The policy treats applicants differently because of race.
- 2Race is a suspect classification. Suspect classifications are reviewed under strict scrutiny.
- 3Under strict scrutiny the government must show a compelling interest, and the policy must be narrowly tailored to that interest.
- 4A looser test, such as rational basis, is the wrong tool. The state does not get the benefit of the easiest test.
Result: Strict scrutiny. The state must show a compelling interest and narrow tailoring.
Why. Equal protection does not ban every distinction. It picks a harder test when the distinction is one, such as race, that history shows government has used to subordinate people.
Intermediate scrutiny is the usual test for sex, not for race. Race is strict scrutiny.
Practice margin
This chapter
A fresh set from this chapter only. Choose 10 or 20. Multiple choice and fill-in, with no repeat inside the set.