GOV 353.OL1 Final Exam: Comprehensive Review of Civil Rights Law

This document presents a completed final exam for GOV 353.OL1, focusing on civil rights. It includes short-answer questions about constitutional amendments (e.g., the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments), federal laws (e.g., the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act), and significant case law (e.g., Brown v. Board of Education, Shelby County v. Holder, and Obergefell v. Hodges). Additionally, the exam features essay questions comparing civil rights philosophies and tactics, contrasting the experiences of the gay and disabled communities, and analyzing the contradiction between women's increasing representation in Congress and persistent inequalities in pay and employment. The responses address issues such as socioeconomic disadvantages faced by the LGBT community, the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the factors preventing women from achieving full equality in the workplace.

Final Exam
GOV 353.OL1
Name____________________
Instructions: This is an “open book” exam meaning you can use any/all of your
course resources posted on Blackboard to answer the questions below as well as
your textbook. You may also use the internet but must site any and all
sources.Your responses will be evaluated based on clarity, accuracy, specificity,
completeness, the demonstration of critical thinking, grammar, punctuation,
organization and syntax.
Constitutional Amendments - Short Answer: (20 points)
1. The Thirteenth Amendment in the US Constitution prohibits slavery and
involuntary servitude.
2. Section 1 of the Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitutionprotects
citizens’ right to vote regardless of race.
3. The Amendment I in the US Constitutionprotects the right to peaceably
assemble, for example to protest against racial injustice.
4. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the government from
denying equal protection of the laws.
5. Equal protection means not depriving any person of life, liberty or
property without due process of law.
6. The Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendment in the US Constitutionrequires
the government to provide due process.
7. Due process means protection from arbitrary denial of life, liberty or
property by the government.
8. Amendment XIX to the US Constitution protects citizens’ right to vote
regardless of gender.
9. Amendment XXIV prohibits poll taxes.
10. The Equal Rights Amendmentwas introduced in Congress and would
guarantee all the American citizensequal rights but has yet to be adopted
because few legislative states have refused to ratify the amendment.
Federal Laws – Short Answer: (20 points)
1. CRA stands for Civil Rights Act, the purpose of which is toinjunctive relief
against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the
Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public
facilities.
2. VRA stands for Voting Rights Act, the purpose of which is to prohibit racial
discrimination in voting.
3. ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act, the purpose of which is to
provide equal opportunities to individuals with disabilities.
4. ADAA stands for the ADA Amendments Act of 2008,the purpose of which is to
extend the protections under ADA to a greater number of people.
5. The CRA was amended four times, most recently in 2009.
6. The VRA was amended seven times, most recently in 2006.

7. Section 5 of the VRA was invalided in 2013 by a Supreme Court decision.
8. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia attempted to stop the CRA by speaking on
the floor for over 14 hours.
9. FHA stands for the Fair Housing Act, the purpose of which is to protect the
buyer or renter of a dwelling from seller or landlord discrimination.
10. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination by the
employers on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion.
Case Law – Short Answer: (20 points)
1. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)was a class
action heard by the Supreme Court involving the issue of segregation in public
schools that was decided in 1954.
2. In Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. (2013),the Supreme Court struck down
a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, the preclearance section, calling it
“unconstitutional.”
3. In 2017, the Supreme Court in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School
District,held that school districts must offer children with a disability an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that is reasonably calculated to enable each child
to make progress appropriate for that child’s circumstances.
4. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. (2015)is a landmark civil rights case in which
the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is
guaranteed under the Constitution to same-sex couples.
5. In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Fisher v.
University of Texas (2013)upheld the University of Texas’ affirmative action
program.
6. InLoving v. Virginia, the Court struck down state laws which prohibited inter-
racial marriage and held that marriage was a fundamental right.
7. In 1974, the Supreme Court struck down a mandatory maternity leave policy for
public school employees as violating the Due Process guarantees of the Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendments, inCleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur.
8. The Court in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003)invalidated all remaining
sodomy bans, and held that criminalizing same-sex conduct is a violation of the
right to privacy.
9. The Supreme Court upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a valid exercise of
Congressional power under the Commerce Clause inHeart of Atlanta Motel, Inc.
v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964)thereby prohibiting private discrimination
in public accommodations, such as motels and restaurants.
10. The Court in PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, held that Title III of the ADAprohibits
the PGA from denying the plaintiff equal access to its tours on the basis of his
disability and that the plaintiff’s requested accommodation was not a modification
that would “fundamentally alter the nature” of the game.
Essay Questions: (Response = maximum of 250 words) ANSWERTWO of the three
questions below.
20 points each = 40 points total.

1. Compare and contrast to philosophies and tactics of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson with regard to civil rights and racial justice.
2. Compare and contrast the oppression experienced by the gay
community and the disabled community. Also, which population to you
believe has achieved a greater degree of equality and why?
3. This fall, more women than ever before were elected to Congress.
However, women still lag behind men in terms of equal pay and equal
employment opportunities. Explain this contradiction. What is preventing
women from achieving equality?
Answer 2
According to American Psychological Association, gay community along with entire
LGBT community are susceptible to various socio-economic disadvantages. Such
people are more vulnerable to the conditions of poverty such as 20% of gay men of
the age between 18 and 44 years are living at or below the federal level of poverty
as compared to the heterosexual men. Similarly, they are discriminated due to their
sexual orientation and gender identity, for example, gay and bisexual men earning
higher incomes are significantly less supposed to report discrimination as compared
to the people with lower socio-economic position. Gay men remains at higher risk of
sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and STDs(American Psychological
Association , 2018).
The oppression being experienced by disabled community is also challenging
enough in US but since the introduction of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA),
which is a civil rights act passed in 1990, the condition of disabled community has
improved to a greater extent. The Act has provided opportunities to the disabled
community from the pointof view ofemployment, education and other socio-
economic opportunities(Bhattacharya & Long, 2015). All these legislations provide
support to the disabled community and they become able to earn livelihood on their
own.
Various legislations have been made in the favor of both the gay community and
disabled community for their betterment in the society. Considering all these facts,
in my opinion, the position of the disabled community has become better as
compared to gay community because, gay community is still facing society
pressures but disabled community has no such obstructions.
Answer 3
Instead of increasing number of women electing to Congress, they still lag behind
men in terms of equal pay and equal employment opportunities. In the US, this
contradiction persists as with the increasing number of women in employment, they
are still paid worse than the men. They are not positioned on topmost positions in
organizations which exhibits uneven gender equality, however, they are getting into
employment better than ever. The statistics of equal pay and political
representation in proportion to men and women shows the wrong that has been
occurred. The gender analyses of the labor market tend to look at the participation
of women in paid employment but not in the huge informal sector, where the ratio

of women is far high and they are not even paid to keep up their daily needs. Even
after implementation of equal pay and equal employment opportunities for women,
they are not being paid similar salary for similar work as men. There are various
reasons because women are not provided with equal opportunities despite several
legislations in their favor made by government. It is expected from women that they
have to handle family and work simultaneously, so they cannot give their 100% to
their work. Moreover, they cannot leave their family and work at faraway places so
they cannot be given such opportunities. In this way, they are always
underestimated as compared to men and are given lesser opportunities as well as
wages as compared to men (Gaag, 2014). The women's rights movement in the US
started in the year 1848 and since then, the agenda remains to ensure the equal
treatment of men and women under the law in all ways be it equal opportunities,
equal rights, equal salary and equality on all other bases.
References
American Psychological Association . (2018). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons &
Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from apa.org:
https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/lgbt.aspx
Bhattacharya, A., & Long, H. (2015). America still leaves the disabled behind. Retrieved from cnn.com:
https://money.cnn.com/2015/07/26/news/economy/americans-with-disabilities-act-problems-
remain/index.html
Gaag, N. V. (2014). Women are better off today, but still far from being equal with men. Retrieved from
theguardian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/29/women-
better-off-far-from-equal-men