AP U.S. Government and Politics · Lesson 3

Equal protection and minority rights

Know Know it

Civil rights protect people from unequal treatment because of traits such as race or sex. Their main constitutional source is the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868), which bars any state from denying a person the equal protection of the laws.

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Court allowed state-required segregation under a separate but equal rule. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), it reversed course: racially segregated public schools violate the equal protection clause, because separate schools are inherently unequal.

Social movements pushed all three branches. The civil rights movement used boycotts, marches and sit-ins. Congress answered with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, banning discrimination in places such as hotels, restaurants and workplaces, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which attacked barriers such as literacy tests. The women's rights movement helped win laws such as Title IX (1972), which bans sex discrimination in federally funded education.

Democracy runs on majority rule, but the Constitution also protects minority rights. Madison warned in Federalist No. 10 that a faction could be a majority. Courts can strike down laws that majorities pass, as Brown did. In his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. defended civil disobedience: breaking unjust laws openly and peacefully and accepting the penalty. Debates continue over affirmative action; in 2023 the Court struck down race-conscious admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

Who advanced civil rights, and how
ActorActionEffect
Supreme CourtBrown v. Board of Education (1954)Ended the separate but equal rule for public schools
CongressCivil Rights Act of 1964Banned discrimination by many private businesses and employers
CongressVoting Rights Act of 1965Attacked barriers to Black voting and added federal oversight
CongressTitle IX (1972)Banned sex discrimination in federally funded education
CitizensBoycotts, marches, sit-insBuilt public pressure for the laws and rulings above

Trap The equal protection clause limits governments

The equal protection clause says no state shall deny equal protection, so it limits governments. Discrimination by a private restaurant or employer was reached mainly by statutes such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Congress passed using its power to regulate interstate commerce.

Worked example Easy

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the separate but equal rule from which earlier case?

  1. Marbury v. Madison
  2. Schenck v. United States
  3. Plessy v. FergusonAnswer
  4. Barron v. Baltimore

How to solve it

  1. Separate but equal was the rule that allowed segregation by law.
  2. That rule came from Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, and Brown rejected it in 1954.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Marbury v. Madison set up judicial review in 1803 and said nothing about segregation.
  • B. Incorrect. Schenck v. United States concerned wartime speech and the clear and present danger test, not segregation.
  • C. Correct. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) allowed separate but equal facilities, and Brown rejected that rule for public schools.
  • D. Incorrect. Barron v. Baltimore held that the Bill of Rights limited only the national government; it was not about segregation.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: explain, compare

When a question sets majority rule against minority rights, look for the institution doing the protecting. Courts can strike down what majorities pass. Congress, itself elected by majorities, can also pass laws protecting minorities. Movements press both.

Worked example Hard

In a hypothetical state, voters approve by a wide margin a ballot measure barring members of one small religious group from serving on city councils. Which statement explains why a federal court could strike the measure down?

  1. Ballot measures are unconstitutional because only legislatures may make law
  2. Constitutional rights limit what even a large majority may enactAnswer
  3. Only Congress may set qualifications for any state or local office in the country
  4. The measure is valid because it passed with a wide margin

How to solve it

  1. Notice the tension: a majority vote against a small minority.
  2. Rights incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment limit state action, including a vote of the people.
  3. So the court acts as a check on the majority to protect the minority.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Many states allow ballot measures, and nothing in the Constitution bans them.
  • B. Correct. Rights such as free exercise and equal protection bind the states, so a court can strike down a measure that violates them even if most voters back it.
  • C. Incorrect. States, not Congress, generally set qualifications for their own state and local offices.
  • D. Incorrect. A wide margin does not make a measure constitutional; this choice also fails to explain any ground for striking it down.

Explain Your turn

Explain how the Supreme Court and Congress each advanced civil rights for Black Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Give one action by each and say what it did.

Write it, then compare. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Compare with a model answer

A full answer does this

  • Gives an accurate Supreme Court ruling of the period and what it did
  • Gives an accurate act of Congress of the period and what it did

Model answer

The Court acted by interpreting the Constitution: in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), it ruled that segregated public schools violate the equal protection clause. Congress acted by passing laws: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in places such as hotels and restaurants, reaching private businesses the Court's ruling did not.

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