16 Civil Rights Policymaking

The University of Michigan Law School attempts to ensure that its student body is both racially and ethnically diverse.

• The Constitution is the most important environmental factor affecting civil rights policymaking, just as it is for civil liberties. Affirmative action, school integration, voting rights, and other civil rights concerns are constitutional issues. Consequently, civil rights policies reflect the parameters of constitutional law.
• Civil rights policymaking is affected by the policy preferences of federal judges, the presence of organized groups concerned with civil-rights issues, and public opinion.

Agenda Building

• Individuals, groups, political parties, and the media all participate in setting the agenda for civil rights policymaking. Susan B. Anthony, for example, was a leader of the movement for women's suffrage. The National Organization for Women (NOW) and other groups raise civil rights issues by supporting lawsuits as test cases or lobbying elected officials. The modern Democratic Party platform supporting gay and lesbian rights reflect alliances between the party and various interest groups and blocs of voters. News reports and media coverage of political demonstrations highlight issues that might otherwise receive relatively little notice.

Policy Formulation and Adoption

• Civil rights policy formulation and adoption may involve action by the president, Congress, the bureaucracy, local governments, private individuals, corporations, and the courts. Judicial decisions are not necessarily the last word in civil rights policymaking, especially when the courts base their rulings on the interpretation of statutory law. Congress, after all, can rewrite laws to overcome judicial objections, and civil rights policies often take the form of legislation or executive orders.

Policy Implementation and Evaluation

• The implementation of civil rights policy falls to the executive branch of the national government, lower federal courts, state and local governments, individuals, and private businesses. Interest groups, individuals, and their attorneys play a major role in civil rights policy implementation by suing and threatening to sue.
• The evaluation of civil rights policies involves both factual analyses and analyses based on values.

Key Terms

Affirmative Action

steps taken by colleges, universities, and private employers to remedy the effects of past discrimination

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

a federal law designed to end discrimination against persons with disabilities and eliminate barriers to their full participation in American society

Civil Rights

the protection of the individual from arbitrary or discriminatory acts by government or by individuals based on that person’s group status, such as race and gender

Civil Union

a legal partnership between two men or two women that gives the couple all the benefits, protections, and responsibilities under law as are granted to spouses in a traditional marriage

Constitutional Law

law that involves the interpretation and application of the Constitution

De Facto Segregation

racial separation resulting from factors other than law, such as housing patterns

De Jure Segregation

racial separation required by law

Disfranchisement

the denial of voting rights

Domestic Partnership

a legal status similar to civil unions in that it confers rights similar to marriage

Equal Protection Clause

a provision of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that declares that “No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Grandfather Clause

a provision that exempted those persons whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote at some earlier date from tests of understanding, literacy tests, and other difficult-to-achieve voter qualification requirements

Initiative Process

a procedure whereby citizens can prepare the adoption of a policy measure by gathering a prerequisite member of signatures. Voters must then approve the measure before it can take effect

Injunction

a court order

Interstate Commerce Clause

the constitutional provision giving Congress authority to “regulate commerce . . . among the several states.”

Jim Crow Laws

legal provisions requiring the social segregation of African Americans in separate and generally unequal facilities

Literacy Test

a legal requirement that citizens demonstrate an ability to read and write before they could register to vote

Minority Business Set-Aside

a legal requirement that firms receiving government grants or contracts allocate a certain percentage of their purchases of supplies and services to businesses owned or controlled by members of minority groups

Poll Tax

tax levied on the right to vote

Primary Election

an election held to determine a party’s nominees for the general election ballot

Racially Restrictive Covenants

private deed restrictions that prohibited property owners from selling or leasing property to African Americans or other minorities

Separate But Equal

the judicial doctrine holding that separate facilities for whites and African Americans satisfy the equal protection requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment

Statutory Law

law that is written by the legislature

Strict Judicial Scrutiny

the judicial decision rule holding that the Supreme Court will find a government policy unconstitutional unless the government can demonstrate a compelling interest justifying the action

Suffrage

the right to vote

Suspect Classifications

distinctions among persons that must be justified on the basis of a compelling government interest that cannot be achieved in a less restrictive fashion

Test Case

a lawsuit initiated to assess the constitutionality of a legislative or executive act

Test of Understanding

a legal requirement that citizens must accurately explain a passage in the U.S. Constitution or state constitution before they could register to vote

White Primary

an electoral system used in the South to prevent the participation of African Americans in the Democratic primary

Discussion Questions

1. What are the most important provisions in the U.S. Constitution affecting civil rights policies?

2. What is the suspect classification doctrine? What classifications does the Supreme Court consider suspect? Under what (if any) circumstances may government enact policies distinguishing among persons on those bases?

3. Why do America’s schools remain largely segregated, despite Brown?

4. Under what circumstances can universities and employers consider race in admissions and hiring decisions?

5. Are the courts the only participants in civil rights policymaking? What other groups or individuals participate?

Interactive Activity

Debate: Civil Rights and Gay Adoption

A recent report showed that in the United States over 65,000 adopted children and over 14,000 foster children live with a homosexual parent. However, Americans are sharply divided on the question of whether or not gays and lesbians should be allowed to adopt children. In this debate activity, you will review both sides of the debate over gay adoption and then take and defend a position of your own. Is there such a thing as a “right” to adopt? Is there a conflict between the rights of gays and lesbians and the interests of adoptive children? If so, whose interests should be given the most weight?

View Debate

“Talking About American Government” Podcasts

Author Neal Tannahill discusses the most important concepts in this chapter

• Gay Marriage