Deck 15: Equal Protection of the Laws

Question 1

Justice William O. Douglas was the first to make the case for heightened judicial scrutiny under the equal protection clause of legislation affecting fundamental rights in _____, where the Supreme Court struck down a state law providing for the compulsory sterilization of criminals.

A) Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942)
B) Buck v. Bell (1927)
C) Jacobsen v. Massachusetts (1905)
D) Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In the Civil Rights Cases (1883), the Supreme Court reasoned that _____.

A) the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited state discrimination only
B) the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited state and private discrimination
C) the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was a legitimate exercise of congressional authority
D) Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment authorized Congress to eradicate all forms of racism

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In _____, the Supreme Court struck down segregated schools in the District of Columbia, noting that the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause incorporated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection guarantee and was thus applicable to the federal government.

A) Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
B) Alexander v. Holmes County (1969)
C) Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)
D) Cooper v. Aaron (1957)

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The difference between de facto segregation and de jure segregation is that _____.

A) de facto segregation is instituted by law, while de jure segregation occurs in practice
B) de jure segregation is instituted by law, while de facto segregation occurs in practice
C) the Constitution specifically prohibits de facto segregation but not de jure segregation
D) the Constitution specifically allows de jure segregation but not de facto segregation

Question 5

In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court held that _____.

A) racial quotas were impermissible, but race could be a factor in admissions policies
B) affirmative action programs discriminated against undeserving individuals
C) racial quotas were an acceptable method of overcoming past discrimination
D) for more than a century and a half, the Constitution had not been color-blind

Question 6

In _____, the Supreme Court in a plurality opinion declared gender discrimination to be a _____ category for applying the Equal Protection Clause.

A) Reed v. Reed (1971); suspect
B) Frontiero v. Richardson (1973); suspect
C) Craig v. Boren (1976); quasi-suspect
D) Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (1982); suspect

Question 7

In Plessy v. Ferguson, Justice Harlan insisted that the Constitution _____.

A) tolerated racial distinctions in the law
B) required racial segregation
C) barred discrimination against women
D) was color blind

Question 8

Loving v. Virginia (1967) involved ______.

A) a state's affirmative action program
B) a police department's racial profiling
C) a state's anti-miscegenation law
D) racial segregation in public schools

Question 9

When Loving v. Virginia (1967) was decided, the Supreme Court divided 5‒4. ____

Question 10

When Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016) was decided, the Supreme Court divided 5‒4. ____

Question 11

Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016) was the Supreme Court's first decision on affirmative action in higher education since Regents v. Bakke (1978). _____

Question 12

According to Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016) the admissions plan challenged in that case had been adopted by the university specifically in response to the Supreme Court's decision in _____.

A) Gratz v. Bollinger
B) Regents v. Bakke
C) Loving v. Virginia
D) Grutter v. Bollinger

Question 13

Considering the positions of the justices who took part in deciding Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016), one would expect these members of the Court to vote to uphold public university affirmative action programs that might be challenged in future cases: ____.

A) Justice Alito and Justice Thomas
B) Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg
C) Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kagan
D) Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Sotomayor

Question 14

How did contrasting views of "state action" affect the votes and opinions of Chief Justice Burger (for the majority) and Justice Marshall (for the dissenters) in Milliken v. Bradley? Discuss.

Question 15

A city council enacts an employment policy that requires firefighters on the municipal payroll to retire at age 52. While such a policy is not necessarily invalid under federal age discrimination laws, a 55-year-old firefighter adversely affected by the new rule files suit against the city on Fourteenth Amendment equal protection grounds.
a. Faced with a claim of a constitutionally impermissible classification, a judge may choose among three tests, or levels of scrutiny, that have been developed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Identify and explain each of these tests.
b. On the basis of his separate opinion in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, how would Justice Stevens go about evaluating the validity of the firefighter's claim?

Question 16

Concurring in the result in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), Justice O'Connor stated that the case should have been decided on equal protection grounds, and not on the basis of a due process right to privacy that the rest of the majority preferred. In what sense might Lawrence be seen as an equal protection case?

Question 17

How do Justice Brennan's plurality opinion in Frontiero v. Richardson and the same justice's majority opinion in Craig v. Boren illustrate distinctly different ways of responding to allegations of unconstitutional gender discrimination? Explain. (Make sure that your essay demonstrates a thorough understanding of both cases.)

Question 18

Aside from the issue of jurisdiction-present in every case before the Supreme Court-what two questions were presented to, and answered by, the Court in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center (1985)? Explain. Which party won the case? Why?

Question 19

What important impact (by way of expansion) did Shapiro v. Thompson (1969) have on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause? Explain.

Question 20

Justice Breyer wrote the principal dissent in Parents Involved v Seattle School District No.1 (2007). What were his main points in that dissent? Explain.

Question 21

What "test" emerged from Craig v. Boren (1977)? In what way do you find part of the origin of this test in United States v. O'Brien (1968)? Explain.

Question 22

In light of the Brown decisions in 1954 and 1955, how do you account for the Seattle decision in 2007? Is the latter consistent with the former?

Question 23

According to Brown, what is the source of the constitutional violation in racially segregated schools: Separation of the races itself or the state's requirement that the races be separate? What are the practical consequences of each view?

Question 24

Is Justice Harlan's "colorblind" principle visible at all in the two Michigan affirmative action cases? If so, how?

Question 25

What argument did the Court reject in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez?

Question 26

What created the state action problem for the Harrisburg Moose Lodge in its dispute with Mr. Irvis? Which side won the case? Why?

Question 27

In Loving v. Virginia (1967), can the state law that was challenged be seen as an illustration of a requirement of "separate but equal"? Explain.

Question 28

In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016), Justice Alito begins his dissent by writing, "Something strange has happened since our prior decision in this case." What did he mean? To what was he referring? Explain.

Question 29

While many discrimination cases are brought under the Fourteenth Amendment, Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) used the Fifth Amendment. Why?

Question 30

According to Justice Bradley in the Civil Rights Cases, why had Congress exceeded its authority in the Civil Rights Act of 1875?