However, the United States has not reached racial equilibrium in educational attainment or desegregation. In fact, just last year, the Lawyers’ Committee filed and won a case against the state of Maryland in The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, et al. v. Maryland Higher Education Commission, et al., for failing to dismantle the vestiges of segregation from its system of higher education. The Court found that Maryland violated the constitutional rights of students at Maryland's four Historically Black Institutions (including Morgan State University) by unnecessarily duplicating their programs at nearby white institutions.
Employment opportunity and wage equality occupy another major segment of the Civil Rights Act. There has been some positive movement since 1964 on this front. The Civil Rights Act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which gave a voice and a potential remedy for hundreds of thousands of victims of employment discrimination. This provision became the sword of the civil rights legal movement in attacking and dismantling barriers to employment. On the negative side, according to a 2012 Economic Policy Institute study, the unemployment rate for African-Americans has been double that of whites since 1963. Sadly, President Kennedy’s statement that an African-American has “twice as much chance of becoming unemployed” still rings true today.
In addition, there is a large income gap between white and African-American households. In 2012, the median income for non-Hispanic white households was $57,009 while African-American households’ median income was $33,321. The Lawyers’ Committee’s Employment Discrimination Project is tasked with working to break down these disparities and practices by filing litigation on behalf of those who have been discriminated against. For example, one of the Lawyers’ Committee’s current cases, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Jacksonville Branch and the Jacksonville Brotherhood of Firefighters, A Chapter of the International Association of the African-American Professional Firefighters v. The Consolidated City of Jacksonville, filed in February 2013, against the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department alleges discrimination in hiring, assignments, transfer and the creation of a hostile work environment. The Lawyers’ Committee also recently held a training session and issued a report on best practices for the use of criminal records in hiring.
The Fight to Protect Voting Rights
The first title of the Civil Rights Act addresses voting rights and prohibits literacy tests and other mechanisms used to hinder a citizen’s right to vote. These protections were supplemented by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which included in its arsenal of groundbreaking protections, a preclearance process before any voting registration or administration change could be made for states who traditionally were perpetrators of racial discrimination in voting. The preclearance process and other mandates of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts broke down many barriers for minority voters and contributed to increased voter registration. However, in June 2013, the Supreme Court decided Shelby County v. Holder and delivered a devastating setback for civil rights in America.
The Court ruled that the coverage formula in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional, essentially paralyzing the federal review (preclearance) of changes to voting procedures under Section 5. Section 5 was critical because it required states with a history of discrimination that were fully or partially covered by the law to prove that any proposed changes to current voting procedures were not discriminatory before they were allowed to take effect. Although there are no longer literacy tests or poll taxes, in a post-Shelby world, new voter suppression methods such as voter identification requirements are rebuilding significant barriers to the minority vote.
The Lawyers’ Committee has brought several suits against states including Texas and Arizona to tear down these barriers. In addition, the Lawyers’ Committee’s Election Protection Program provides Americans all over the country with comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted.
As we reflect upon the legacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including the many pathways it created for women, nearly 50 years after its enactment, we must rejoice on how far this nation has moved toward the goal of racial justice. However, we must not become complacent in our quest for this ideal. Much work remains to achieve equity and fairness in this nation. One day the check that was written with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will finally be cashed in full.
University of Baltimore School of Law third year law student and former Lawyers’ Committee intern, Laura Hunt contributed to this article.
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