Deck 5: Civil Rights

Question 1

The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race,religion,color,sex,or national origin in hotels,restaurants,gas stations,and other public accommodations.Congress drew its authority for passing the legislation from which of the following constitutional provisions?

A)Interstate Commerce Clause
B)Fourteenth Amendment
C)Fifteenth Amendment
D)First Amendment
E)Supremacy Clause

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following would most likely be unconstitutional on the basis of the "suspect classification" doctrine?

A)A state law prohibiting persons who have been convicted of felonies from working as public school teachers
B)A state law prohibiting unmarried couples and single persons from becoming adoptive parents
C)A state law allowing landlords to refuse to rent to families with children under the age of six
D)A state law prohibiting noncitizens from working in the healthcare field
E)A state law prohibiting Latinos from voting

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The Supreme Court has ruled that which of the following is a suspect classification?

A)Distinctions based on age
B)Distinctions based on gender
C)Distinctions based on race
D)Distinctions based on physical disability
E)Distinctions based on weight

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits

A)discrimination in hiring and promoting employees in the private sector.
B)sexual harassment in the workplace.
C)gender discrimination in programs at institutions that receive federal funds.
D)females from taking jobs in the military where they are likely to see combat.
E)federal dollars from being spent at all colleges that are not coed.

Question 5

In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court explicitly overturn the precedent set in Plessy v.Ferguson?

A)Missouri ex rel Gaines v.Canada
B)Sweatt v.Painter
C)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
D)Swann v.Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
E)Shelly v.Kraemer

Question 6

Constitutional law involves

A)the interpretation and application of the Constitution.
B)only actions against the federal government.
C)the interpretation of the statute laws.
D)only actions against the state governments.
E)interpretation of the Bill of Rights only.

Question 7

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 was aimed at discrimination in what area?

A)Home ownership
B)Employment
C)Education
D)Sports
E)Voting

Question 8

Which of the following statements is

A)Government cannot make distinctions based on race or citizenship under any circumstance because they are considered suspect classifications.
B)The Supreme Court has held that race is a suspect classification but age and gender are not.
C)The government can make distinctions based on suspect classifications only if it can demonstrate "compelling interest" for such actions.
D)The 1964 Civil Rights Act invalidated the suspect classifications doctrine.
E)The Voting Rights Act invalidated the suspect classifications doctrine.

Question 9

Which of the following cases established the policy known as separate-but-equal?

A)City of Richmond v.J.A.Croson Co.
B)Plessy v.Ferguson
C)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
D)Shelly v.Kraemer
E)Sweatt v.Painter

Question 10

Which of the following statements is NOT

A)It was a test case brought forward by the NAACP.
B)It concerned the constitutionality of a Kansas law that required racial segregation of public schools.
C)The Supreme Court ruled that laws that require separate facilities for whites and blacks are inherently unequal.
D)It led to the eventual integration of public schools across the United States.
E)It reaffirmed the finding in the case of Plessy v.Ferguson.

Question 11

In Brown v.Board of Education the Supreme Court did all of the following EXCEPT

A)overturn the Plessy precedent.
B)find de jure segregation unconstitutional.
C)address the issue of de facto segregation.
D)say that separate-but-equal schools were unconstitutional.
E)find de facto segregation unconstitutional.

Question 12

Which of the following cases upheld the constitutionality of Jim Crow laws?

A)City of Richmond v.J.A.Croson Co.
B)Plessy v.Ferguson
C)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
D)Shelly v.Kraemer
E)Miller v.California

Question 13

Which of the following was not used to disfranchise African Americans?

A)Poll taxes
B)Literacy tests
C)The Voting Rights Act
D)White primaries
E)Grandfather clauses

Question 14

In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court rule that busing was an acceptable method for achieving school desegregation?

A)Shelly v.Kraemer
B)Swann v.Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
C)Heart of Atlanta Motel v.United States
D)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
E)Plessy v.Ferguson

Question 15

Which of the following constitutional provisions was written in order to protect the voting rights of former slaves?

A)First Amendment
B)Interstate Commerce Clause
C)Second Amendment
D)Fifteenth Amendment
E)Twenty-first Amendment

Question 16

Which of the following laws would most likely be found unconstitutional by a federal court?

A)A law that distinguishes among persons on the basis of race
B)A law that distinguishes among persons on the basis of whether they receive welfare assistance
C)A law that distinguishes among persons on the basis of education level
D)A law that distinguishes among persons on the basis of sexual orientation
E)A law that distinguishes among persons on the basis of age

Question 17

Which of the following statements is

A)The white primary system prevented African Americans from voting in all elections.
B)Although the white primary system permitted African Americans the right to vote,they could cast ballots only for white candidates.
C)The white primary allowed African Americans to vote in primary elections but not general elections.
D)White primaries were ended with the passage of the Twenty-fourth Amendment.
E)The white primary system in the South was promoted by the Democratic Party.

Question 18

"No State shall ...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This phrase is found in which of the following sections of the U.S.Constitution?

A)First Amendment
B)Interstate Commerce Clause
C)Fourteenth Amendment
D)Fifteenth Amendment
E)Twenty-sixth Amendment

Question 19

Which of the following statements is supported by the graph on page 98?

A)There is no gender gap in wage earning.
B)The gender gap applies to representation as well as wage earning.
C)The gender gap has been closed substantially since 1964.
D)Since 1964,the gender gap has increased.
E)As more women have entered the workplace,the gender gap in wages has disappeared.

Question 20

When did women gain the right to vote in the United States?

A)1910
B)1920
C)1930
D)1940
E)1950

Question 21

In the case of Boy Scouts v.Dale,the Supreme Court ruled against the Boy Scouts.

Question 22

Women's rights advocates can file suit against universities and ask federal courts to file an injunction if the university is not in compliance with Title IX requirements.

Question 23

The case of University of California v.Bakke dealt with what issue?

A)Discrimination against women
B)Voting rights
C)Reverse discrimination
D)Civil Rights Act of 1964
E)Housing and public accommodations

Question 24

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the government treat all persons alike,without regard for race,gender,age,or citizenship status.

Question 25

Title IX is a law passed by Congress requiring colleges and universities to provide

A)gender equity in awarding scholarships and funding athletic programs.
B)work-study opportunities and teaching assistantships to minorities.
C)hiring and promotions for minority faculty members.
D)funding of student activities regardless of religious affiliation.
E)funding for scholarships for religious minorities.

Question 26

What was the Supreme Court's reasoning in the case of Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka?

Question 27

The legal requirement that companies and other organizations take positive steps to remedy the effects of past discrimination is known as

A)affirmative action.
B)the principle of comparable worth.
C)strict judicial scrutiny.
D)separate-but-equal.
E)reverse discrimination.

Question 28

In recent years,the Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women and minorities to win discrimination lawsuits.

Question 29

Restrictive covenants are legal,but not enforceable.

Question 30

What is the suspect classification doctrine? What three classifications has the Supreme Court found to be suspect?

Question 31

The federal courts recognize two types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo harassment and harassment based on a hostile environment.

Question 32

The Supreme Court overturned the Plessy precedent in Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka.

Question 33

White primaries and literacy tests were used to end de facto discrimination against blacks.

Question 34

What role did the NAACP play in reversing the precedent set in Plessy v.Ferguson?

Question 35

What was the significance of Plessy v.Ferguson? What case overturned the Plessy precedent?

Question 36

In City of Richmond v.J.A.Croson,the Supreme Court ruled that all minority-business set-aside programs are unconstitutional.

Question 37

According to the graph on page 100,

A)Americans do not see a need for affirmative action.
B)more whites than African Americans are unhappy with the status quo.
C)Americans agree with efforts to improve the position of minorities but do not like preferential treatment given to minorities.
D)most blacks feel affirmative action is no longer necessary.
E)support for affirmative action has increased substantially since the 1980s.

Question 38

A minority business set-aside is

A)a district within a city that is set aside for only minority-owned businesses.
B)a requirement that firms receiving government contracts allocate a certain percentage of their purchases to minority-owned businesses.
C)a requirement that colleges and universities set aside certain areas of their campuses for minority-owned businesses.
D)a requirement that minority-owned businesses not be allowed to have government contracts.
E)a requirement that minority-owned businesses pay higher wages to their employees.

Question 39

The Supreme Court has ruled that policy distinctions based on race and citizenship status are suspect classifications.

Question 40

What is the constitutional significance of the phrase "all deliberate speed," which the Supreme Court used in connection with its Brown decision?

Question 41

How has the Supreme Court ruled on the use of citizen status in access to professions and education?

Question 42

Perhaps the most famous judicial decision of the twentieth century has been Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka.Write an essay in which you discuss the case.Consider the following questions: What was the legal and constitutional background of the controversy? What were the circumstances of the case? What issues were settled by the Court's ruling in the Brown case? What issues were left unsettled by the Brown ruling? What impact did the case have on life in America?

Question 43

The Supreme Court uses the doctrine of "suspect classification" to evaluate equal-protection issues.Write an essay in which you define the doctrine of "suspect classification" and identify which classifications the Supreme Court has deemed to be suspect.Include the concept of "strict scrutiny" and a discussion of what this means.

Question 44

What did the Supreme Court rule in University of California v.Bakke?

Question 45

What were grandfather clauses? How were they used to discriminate against African Americans?

Question 46

Write an essay on sexual harassment,including a discussion of what constitutes sexual harassment,how it was dealt with in the past,what the government has done to prevent it from occurring,and how the government takes retribution against those who engage in it.

Question 47

Describe and explain the Civil Rights Cases of 1883.

Question 48

The right of African Americans to vote should have been allowed after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1872.However,that right continued to be denied for almost another 100 years,especially in the southern states.Write an essay about how African Americans were prevented from voting.

Question 49

The Fourteenth Amendment promises equal protection under the law,but the Supreme Court makes no attempt to ensure that laws treat all Americans alike.What kinds of distinctions are permissible?

Question 50

How was the Interstate Commerce Clause used to address discrimination?