Civil rights impose duties on governments to uphold claims to government action or prohibitions against specific government actions. There are two categories:
- One category of civil rights prohibits specific kinds of discrimination. Governments must not discriminate, and they must act to prevent discrimination by other organizations, businesses, or people.
- The Fair Housing Act is an example of a civil right against discrimination when seeking housing. The federal government must penalize housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.
- The other category of civil rights is claims on government resources or services.
- Medicaid is an example of a claim-right to federal government funds for health care for those 65 years and older.
- Public education is an example of a claim-right to a public service many states offer.
- Voting and running for office are also examples of claims to political participation in electoral democracy that only the states provide.
Why it matters: The history of political conflicts in the U.S. has often involved attempts to define and redefine claim-rights, to gain such rights, and to deny rights (or claims of rights) to various kinds of people. The battlegrounds are constitutional amendments and laws.
Equality before the law (or under the law) is our most fundamental civil right. With it, there can be no discrimination to whom the laws apply or how they are applied to any person or group. Under the Civil Rights Act (1964), all citizens and non-citizens are entitled to all civil liberties and most public services in equal measure.
This right to equality has been hard-won for some people. It has yet to be fully achieved in all aspects of the law. It has not been codified in an all-encompassing manner. Instead, it has been implemented in pieces. For example, in most states, women had no right to vote in federal elections until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. (The first woman to vote in Congress was Rep. Jeannette Rankin, (R) Montana, elected in 1916 by men.) Most people of color could not vote until the Voting Rights Act (1965) was enforced, despite the Fifteenth Amendment (1870), which prohibited governments from denying that right “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
See also: “Rights,” “civil liberties,” and “negative and positive rights.”
Sources:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights/
https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/sum2005/entries/civil-rights/#1.1
National Archives: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2010/08/18/women-cant-vote-but-they-can-run-for-congress/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights
U.S. Census Bureau History: Ratification of the 19th Amendment:
« Back to Glossary Index