Aoife Gavagan
8/20/19
AP Government and Politics
Mr. Feeley
In a time where it feels like our country is constantly repeating mistakes we made decades ago, it is important to remember our past and the awful things it contains. America’s rich history is full of racism, sexism, and anything else white men could use to ‘get to the top’. That is why learning about these court cases is important for so much more than just a good grade. The entire future of America could lay in the information these cases hold.
The Brown vs BOE court case was about whether or not schools should be segregated through an idea of “separate but equal”. Unfortunately, through this system, African American students got a significantly lower quality of education than did their white counterparts. Oliver Brown filed this suit after his daughter was not allowed into an all-white school in Kansas. Oliver first brought the case to the US District Court in Kansas where they determined that while the schools for African Americans were awful, they wouldn’t do anything. When the case went to the supreme court, a decision couldn’t be made mostly because Chief Justice Vinson wanted to maintain “separate but equal” ideals. However, when he passed away the new Chief Justice Warren felt differently and managed to get all of the judges to vote with Brown. The court under Warren was quite liberal and he accomplished many strides in the civil rights movement. The constitutional amendment that this case mostly involved was the 14th, which ensures that every American’s rights be protected such as the right to an equal education (an important part of life that was being kept from many). When researching this case it reminded me of issues that we are having currently with minorities' lives being taken away because of not being allowed their basic rights (from the 14th amendment) to a fair trial and police investigation.
The next case I researched was Roe V Wade, which is a case that was brought against a district attorney from Texas who helped install a law in Texas banning abortion. A pregnant woman sued him claiming that this law was a threat to her personal rights and privacy.
First, “a Texas district court ruled that the state’s abortion ban was illegal” (Roe). After that, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court who also voted to get rid of the ban. This decision pretty much ended all bans on abortion in the US. Chief Justice Burger voted against the ban and the vote ended up being 7-2 for Roe. Despite the conservative tendencies of the President who hired him, Chief Justice Burger ran a very moderate to liberal court. This case greatly involved the 14th amendment because these laws were a threat to pregnant women’s privacy, and the 14th amendment protects the privacy of all American citizens. This case reminds me of Alabama Abortion Ban that was added a few months ago that removes the right for women to choose whether they want/ need an abortion.
The last case I studied was Citizens United vs FEC, which is a court case where an ideological corporation made a political movie against Hillary Clinton and took money from a for-profit company to do so. The FEC fought against the movie because of the McCain- Feingold law which prohibits producing media with candidate's names within a certain time from the election. Citizens United argued that because press companies can produce bias material legally, other corporations should be able to as well. This case originated in the US district courts and they sided with the FEC. When the case went to the supreme court however, they sided with Citizens United. The court was mostly conservative. The chief justice voted for Citizens United. This case relates to the first amendment (which “guarantees the right to express ideas and information”)(Freedom of) because the argument for this case was that restricting the movie was restricting their ideas and speech. This reminds me of debates happening right now about whether or not free speech laws supported by the 14th amendment include hate speech (like racist or sexist terms).
Whether it’s from CNN, FOX, or your neighbor, everyone has opinions about political and social issues and how we should handle them. While these sources can be helpful, sometimes what’s best is to look at our nation’s history and the issues we’ve dealt with. The answers to saving our nation from repeating sexist laws could be hidden in Roe V Wade. Next time instead of filling our heads with facebook articles, we could try learning from the past.
History.com Editors. “Brown v. Board of Education.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka.
History.com Editors. “Freedom of Speech.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Dec. 2017, www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/freedom-of-speech.
History.com Editors. “Roe v. Wade.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2018, www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/roe-v-wade.https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/freedom-of-speech
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