Abstract This paper discusses how the Equal Rights Amendment, which was first introduced to Congress in 1923, still eludes women, despite the simple words that comprise the entirety of the proposed amendment. It looks at how, throughout history, a quagmire of social, political, and economic forces have prevented ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and how we now appear to be closer than ever before to providing full constitutional protection for women.
From the Paper "Abortion rights are still hotly contested, but retribution against equal rights for women appears to be diminishing. In United States v. Virginia in 1996, the Supreme Court held that the all-male admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. If the Equal Rights Amendment was to come back up for a vote this year, it would certainly stand the best chance of passing in U.S. history and would likely be adopted by a more progressive society than has existed in the past. And, after all, only three more states are needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment."
Abstract This paper discusses the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) whose components are sexual discrimination and women's right to vote, which provide an equality of the sexes in American society. The paper explains that although the amendment has not yet passed through Congress, the objective of Paul's vision was to create a law that would identify women with men on an equal legal basis. The paper continues that by giving greater freedoms to women to enact their rights as voters, women should then have the rights as men, to be viewed through the same apparatus that should protect both sexes in a court of law.
From the Paper "This legal study will analyze the two components of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that forged the women's right to vote, as well as the banning of sexual discrimination in American society and law. By understanding the text of the ERA, one can realize these two important components of this proposed legal action for the equality of the sexes. The first section of the Equal Rights Amendment is a component, which has been based on the issues of women's right to vote, as applied in the 19th amendment: "Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." (Paul para.1)"
Abstract This paper explains the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment and looks at how it has been interpreted, at different times in history, to sometimes further the interests of equality and, at other times, to defend the status quo, which often prevented equality among people.
From the Paper ""I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) In the fight for all men to be considered equal, the Fourteenth Amendment was an integral part. But the way in which this constitutional amendment was interpreted differed greatly in the times since it was ratified in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment's original purpose was to create a society where all people were treated equally under the law. However, through many interpretations, the Fourteenth Amendment made it seem that equal living, education, and working conditions were things the government was responsible for providing. Depending on the time period, there have been many interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. For the first three decades since the amendment was ratified, the Fourteenth Amendment actually slowed down the pursuit of equality, while after the 1900's, the Fourteenth Amendment was used in a wide variety of supreme court cases as a stepping stone to the racial equality we have today."
Abstract This paper examines the legal cases involving the invasion of privacy that is protected under the fourth amendment. It investigates the changes that have come about in this law through court decisions and also the way that it is enforced. The paper gives special attention to the issue of unwarranted search and equal practice of the 4th amendment.
From the Paper "The invasion of privacy is something that is taken very seriously in the United States of America and it is for this reason that the fourth amendment encompasses all areas in this respect, and safeguards the rights of all individuals. Although it is not very clear if this law is uniform or not because there appear to be cases where there has been exceptions to what the 4th amendment really says. "
Tags: 4th, constiution, bill, of, rights, indvidual, legal, privacy, usa, united, states, unwarranted, search, equal, practice
Abstract The paper outlines the three sections of the Fourteenth Amendment and refers to the cases of "Elk v. Wilkins" and "Plessy v. Ferguson" that represented the first stirrings of the battle against segregation in the United States. The paper looks at how the Great Depression helped black Americans and how the case of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" convinced the Supreme Court that segregation in American public schools was unconstitutional. The paper then relates that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were major social and political triumphs for African Americans. The paper concludes that today, the struggle for racial equality and justice continues not just for African Americans but also for an entire new generation of immigrants seeking life, liberty and happiness as mandated in the U.S. Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment.
From the Paper "Some twenty years after the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that discrimination against African-Americans by private persons cannot be regarded as imposing slavery or involuntary servitude against them. As a result, the U.S. Congress decided that "it could not make it a federal offense for private persons to discriminate against African-Americans." However, Congress did in fact, during the days of Reconstruction after the close of the Civil War, use its powers to prohibit "peonage, or involuntary servitude to work off a debt," but specific loopholes in this decision made the protection incomplete, something which Congress at the time did nothing to fix (Chemerinsky, 1145)."
Abstract The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), first proposed in 1923, is still not part of the U.S. Constitution. The ERA has been ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states. When three more states vote 'yes', the ERA might become the 28th Amendment. This paper discusses the history of this document, focusing on the role of feminists in the 1960s in advancing the ERA.
From the Paper "The ERA has been a topic of great controversy since its proposal in 1921, but the reasons have changed over time (Freeman, 1988). The document was written by Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman's Party (NWP), which served as the militant wing of the Suffrage Movement. After suffrage, Paul and her supporters decided that the next step was to remove all legal discrimination against women. They believed that this called for another federal amendment. The ERA aimed to diminish state laws that restricted women's jury service, their rights to control their own property, contract, sue, and keep their own name and domicile if married; gave them inferior guardianship rights over children; and stigmatized them as lesser citizens."
This paper examines the lack of equality between the sexes that exists not only in the workforce, but in various areas of sports and athletics as well.
Abstract This paper explores the normally male dominated field of sports and athletics and the lack of equality between the sexes in this area. The writer of this paper contends that in most instances, equality of opportunity between the genders is mandated by U.S. law. This paper examines the Equal Employment Opportunity Act which is the major legislation mandating equality in employment as well as Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments that mandates a move toward equality in college sports. This paper focuses on the career of jockey Julie Krone who was inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in 2000. The writer discusses Krone's battle with prejudice in a male-dominated field, that had at one time gotten her so depressed she had contemplated suicide. This paper details the various laws and achievements of exceptional women have struggled to bring about true equality in the field of sports. This paper also contains the text of two published articles regarding women and sports, that were used in researching this paper.
Outline:
Sports Equality at the College Level
Equality in Sports Professions
Conclusion
Works Cited
From the Paper "Krone made it in a man's sport and profession; it would be logical that other women would have followed in her footsteps. If one were to gauge the possibilities on the basis of a 1985 National Geographic production, The Ballad of the Irish Horse, one might think of equine sports and professions as the perfect place for women to break into a man's world. The father of a junior rider who competes in pony races, with betting and purses and all, said he didn't particularly like his teenaged daughter exposed to the dangers, but she loved it so much and was so good at it, he didn't have the heart to stop her. In the same production, there is also a women veterinarian at the Irish National Stud, breeder of many of the world's great race horses, and a segment on Lady Anne Hemphill, founder of Pony Club in Ireland, an organization to which many equine professionals once belonged."
Tags: women, gender, rights, equality, julie, krone, law
Abstract This paper examines how the concept of equality is central to Western society and reflects the secularization of the Christian notion of equality before God. It looks at how early social theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke, acknowledged the inequality of natural gifts and how they believed in the equality of individuals within the institutions of civil and political society. It discusses how the three distinct meanings of equality that inform most debates over social justice and provide many of the dividing lines of Western political life are equality before the law, equality of opportunity and equality of results or condition.
From the Paper "Economic stratification by a combination of class, race, gender, region, religion, and ethnicity is still a central feature of the majority of societies and a strong determinant of life outcomes (Calhoun 2002). Although all societies accept some inequality, "they differ in the type and degree that are considered appropriate," and differ in the "degree to which they accept inheritance as the basis for inequality," thus inherited inequality has been discouraged in modern societies "in favor of an emphasis on merit-based rewards" (Calhoun 2002).
Much research has been conducted concerning the mechanisms that produce patterns of wealth and poverty over time, "especially those that inhibit social mobility in spite of social policies designed to create access to wealth," especially public education (Calhoun 2002). "
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses and analyzes the equal rights movement from the past to the present. The paper details the significant steps in the Women's Rights Movement from 1848 to the present. The writer discusses the current interests in women's rights and presents reasons for their importance. Further, the writer also discusses the future of women's rights, including increasing rights for women.
From the Paper "For some the women's rights movement began when a number of women began discussing the status of women in America in earnest. Women were not allowed to vote, thus women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation. Married women had no property rights. Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the extent that they ... "
Tags: women's rights, suffrage, voting rights, equality, sexual harrassment, pay parity, equal rights amendment
Abstract This paper addresses three potential new amendments to the constitution. The first of the amendments discussed addresses school prayer. The second and third amendments discussed address term limits for both members of Congress and for the United States president. The final amendment proposed seeks to overturn Amendment 22 that limits a president to two terms of four years in office. It also proposes that a president be elected of one term of 9 years, with a provision that congress may remove the president and call for a new election after the president has served at least three years in office.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Amendment Number 28 Congressional Term Limits
Discussion
Amendment -33
Conclusion
From the Paper "This amendment attempts to satisfy two very different groups of people who have conflicting ideas about school prayer. On one hand, it allows individuals and groups to conduct public prayer in a public school setting. On the other hand, it still protects the separation of church and State that is part of the first Constitutional Amendment in the Bill of Rights. (Bill of Rights) It appears that the majority of people want prayer returned to public school. A survey by the Pittsburgh Courier received a significantly large positive response to the question "Should prayer be returned to public schools.""
Abstract This paper examines the effect of the Wright Amendment on Southwest Airlines. It explains that the Wright Amendment is a part of federal air transportation law in the United States that places arbitrary restrictions on common carrier air passenger traffic to and from Love Field in Dallas. The author explores why Southwest Airlines was against the Amendment.
From the Paper "The Wright Amendment was a special interest addition to a major bill dealing with the airline industry that was enacted in the late ..."
Abstract This paper presents a history of the Fourth Amendment. The paper defines the Fourth Amendment, explains what it entails from a legal perspective what it entails and discusses the history of search and seizure Legality.
From the Paper "The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. The Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be secure against..."
Abstract This paper provides a discussion of the history, creation and ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment repealed prohibition, and allowed the sale and consumption of alcohol to resume in the United States. The social climate in the era leading up to prohibition is discussed, as well as the results of prohibition. Some holes in the 21st Amendment are discussed in view of our current century. The author, however, concludes that the U.S. Constitution remains a living document that is capable of responding to changes in American society.
From the Paper "During 1933, laws were passed in 43 states that provided for conventions in that or the following year (with the exceptions of Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Dakota) (Livingston 211). During the same year conventions were held in thirty-eight states of which thirty-seven ratified the amendment and one (South Carolina) rejected it. The thirty-sixth ratification was received in the late afternoon of December 5, 1933 and the certificate was issued by the Secretary of State less than an hour later (Livingston 211).
On December 6, 1933, the thirty-seventh ratification was received from Maine; as a result, it required less than eleven months after its submission to the states for the amendment to be ratified by the requisite three-fourths and the ill-fated experiment of national prohibition ended (Livingston 211). One of the reasons the process went so smoothly may have been based on a misconception among lawmakers at the time. For example, in his essay, "No More 'Cherry-Picking,'" Aaron Nielson (2004) reports that the 21st Amendment achieved the required votes in each house of Congress without causing much substantive debate, most likely because the majority of Congressmen at the time considered section one of the amendment, the simple repeal of constitutional Prohibition, as being its main thrust: "It seems that sections two and three of the Amendment were seen as being primarily procedural sections, necessary to support and implement section one" (Nielson 281). The implications of that fateful misperception have come back to haunt legislators today, particularly as they apply to section two."
Abstract This paper examines the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution under the Bill of Rights. The author points out that this amendment prohibits unlawful searches and seizures on the part of the government and is aimed at protecting the security and privacy of individual citizens from government intrusions. The paper reviews the amendment and suggests some contemporary challenges to its authority.
From the Paper "Anyone who has ever watched any of the number of courtroom dramas broadcast on television these days will have heard of the Fourth Amendment. For lawyers, it seems to be a phrase tossed around with ease with the likes of probable cause and unlawful search and seizure. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution constitutes one of the most important elements of the modern American justice system, but is one part that is not so well understood by the general populace. Additionally, the increasing number of electronic crimes via computers and the Internet has made the Fourth Amendment even more difficult to understand and appropriately apply for citizens and lawmakers alike."
Describes a policy, adopted by Stanford Students, which restricts certain types of free speech and examines whether this policy conflicts with the first amendment or is a just application of John Stuart Mill's harm principle.
650 words (approx. 2.6 pages), 2 sources, 2002, $ 26.95
Abstract Stanford Students adopted a policy that made personally vilifying expressions an offense subject to penalties. The policy described outlawed expressions as "…words or non-verbal symbols…commonly understood to convey direct and visceral hatred or contempt for human beings on the basis of their sex, race, color, handicap, religion, or national or ethnic origin. This paper examines whether this policy should be ruled a violation of the First Amendment's right to free speech or whether it is a legitimate application of John Stuart Mill's harm principle.
