Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States The Civil Rights of 1964 prohibited places of “public accommodation” from discrimination based on customer’s race, sex, color, religion, or national origin. The Heart of Atlanta Motel challenged the constitutionality of this provision and, after losing before a three- judge federal court, appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the power under the commerce Clause to enact the prohibitions on discrimination contained in the public accommodations sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Thomas Clark wrote the opinion for a unanimous Court. The Heart of Atlanta Motel was a large, 216-room motel in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thomas Gibbons, another steamboat operator, competed with Aaron Ogden on this same route but held a federal coasting license issued by an act of Congress. Ogden filed a complaint in New York court to stop Gibbons from operating his boats, claiming that the monopoly granted by New York was legal even though he operated on shared, interstate waters. Gibbons disagreed arguing that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the sole power over interstate commerce. After losing twice in New York courts, Gibbons appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determined that the commerce clause of the Constitution grants the federal government the power to determine how interstate commerce is conducted.
The Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away a person's basic rights to 'life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' Courts have issued numerous rulings about what this means in particular cases. The precedent it sets shakes the judicial system foundation to its very core. Taking legal decisions out of the hands of a majority and putting it in the hands of one. Terri’s law was ruled as unconstitutional in a seven to zero vote by the United States Supreme Court.
The Selma campaign would spark the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.Our whole campaign in Alabama has been centered around the right to vote. In focusing the attention of the nation and the world today on the flagrant denial of the right to vote, we are exposing the very origin, the root cause, of racial segregation in the Southland. Racial segregation as a way of life did not come about as a natural result of hatred between the races immediately after the Civil War. There were no laws segregating the races then. And as the noted historian, C. Vann Woodward, in his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, clearly points out, the segregation of the races was really a political stratagem employed by the emerging Bourbon interests in the South to keep the southern masses divided and southern labor the cheapest in the land.
Historical Significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 In 1964, the United States passed one of its strongest civil rights laws in history, the Civil Rights Act. The act bans discrimination because of a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. It primarily protects the rights of African Americans and other minorities. Major features of the Civil Rights Act include the freedom to vote and use hotels, restaurants, theaters, parks, and all other public places. The law also encouraged the desegregation of public schools and authorized the withdrawal of federal funds from programs practicing discrimination.
The Civil Rights Movement was a time during the 1950’s and 1960’s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. In order to determine whether the Civil Rights movement was able to create change in America, one must assess the extent to which social and political was changed by the movement. Socially, people were separated and treated unequally depending on their race. Politically, to bring justice to race equality by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act within the nation. Thus, the Civil Rights movement was able to create significant social and political change in America.
The new Constitution sought to divide the powers of government among the different branches of government to provide a system of checks and balances of power. According to Fisher (2012) “The Constitution vests in Congress the power to regulate foreign commerce, an activity the Framers understood as closely related to the war power. Commercial conflicts between nations were often a cause of war. In 1824 in Gibbons v. Ogden, Chief Justice John Marshall said of the commerce power that "it may be, and often is, used as an instrument of war." Guided by history and republican principles, the framers placed that power and responsibility with Congress” (para
Bobo asks how we can have milestone decisions like Brown V. Board, pass a civil rights act, a voting act, fair housing acts, and numerous acts of enforcement and amendments, including the pursuit of affirmative action policies and still continue to face a significant racial divide in America. Bobo offers these thoughts on the subject. In America we are witnessing the crystallization of a new racial ideology Bobo refers to as laissez-faire racism. Furthermore race and racism remain powerful levers in American national politics. Additionally social science has played a peculiar role in the problem of race according to Bobo.
If not why not? The incorporation of the Bill of rights is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the United States Bill of rights to the States ( American goverment and politics today page 114) The second amendment is not incorporated because of precedent; also commented upon the use of selective incorporation doctrine. The seventh circuit wrote how the incorporation is hard to predict (fast.org). The seventh circuit stated that another theme stressed in the debate over incorporation is that the constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as element of liberty rather than destroyed in order to produce a single nationally applicable rule. 434 words count
Constitution also forbade all citizens from returning escaped slaves to a different state. Also, didn’t allow the banning of slave importation before 1808. The constitution was ratified by elected delegates from each state. Nine states had to agree before it was