Supreme Court's 1999-2000 Civil Rights Decisions The1999-2000 term of the Supreme court, brought quite a few decisions that affect civil rights in one form or another. Here is a run down of the major civil rights related decisions for the year 2000 term of the Supreme Court. Age Discrimination Burden of proof - Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. A man 57 years old, contended that he had been fired because of his age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). He made a prima facie showing of discrimination and also made a substantial showing that the respondent's explanation for the firing was false. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the man had not introduced sufficient evidence to sustain a jury finding of unlawful discrimination. The Court disagreed and held that a plaintiff's prima facie case, combined with sufficient evidence to find that the employer's asserted justification is false, permit a trier of fact to conclude that the employer unlawfully discriminated. Civil Rights Civil remedy for gender motivated violence - United States v. Morrison A woman after being assaulted and repeatedly raped, attempted to sue in civil court using a federal law that allowed for civil remedy for the victims of gender-motivated violence. The Court struck down the law because it exceeded federal authority, holding that it could not be sustained under either the Commerce Clause or section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Criminal Law and Procedure Enhanced penalties for hate crimes - Apprendi v. New Jersey A New Jersey hate crime law provides for an "extended term" of imprisonment if the trial judge finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that "the defendant in committing the crime acted with a purpose to intimidate an individual or group of individuals because of race, color, gender, handicap, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity." The Court struck down the law on the ground that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that a factual determination resulting in an increased prison sentence be made by a jury on the basis of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Ex Post Facto limitations on amendments to criminal statutes - Carmell v. Texas A man was convicted of sexual crimes, in compliance with current Texas law, on the basis of the victim's testimony alone. However, at the time the alleged crimes were committed the applicable statute required that there be other corroborating evidence. The Court held that the convictions could not be sustained under the Ex Post Facto clause. Miranda upheld - Dickerson v. United States Congress cannot overturn through legislation a constitutional holding of the court. The standard for admissibility is whether the suspect received Miranda warnings before being interrogated, not the standard set forth in a recently passed law where the admissibility of such statements turns only on whether or not they were voluntarily made. Search based only on an anonymous tip - Florida v. J.L. The Court held that an anonymous tip that a person is carrying a gun does not, without more, justify a police officer's stop and frisk of that person. Holding such a search invalid under the Fourth Amendment, the Court rejected the suggestion of a firearm exception to the general stop and frisk rule Visitation rights of Grandparents - Troxel v. Granville The Troxels petitioned for the right to visit their deceased son's daughters. Washington state law permits "any person" to petition for visitation rights "at any time" and authorizes state superior courts to grant such rights whenever visitation may serve a child's best interest. The Court held that the Washington law was overly broad and infringed on parent's fundamental right to make decisions regarding the care and control of their children, thus violating the Fourteenth Amendment. Education Public aid to parochial schools - Mitchell v. Helms Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 distributes funds used to provide equipment and materials to public and private schools. The Court held that Chapter 2 does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment as applied to schools that are Catholic or otherwise religiously affiliated. Student led prayer - Santa Fe School District v. Doe. A high school student occupying the office of student council chaplain delivered a prayer over the intercom before every varsity football game. The Court held that this practice violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Mandatory student activities fees - Board of Regents of Univ. of Wisconsin v. Southworth The Court rejected students' claim that mandatory student activity fees designed to facilitate extracurricular student speech violated their First Amendment rights. So long as the program is viewpoint neutral, a mandatory student activity fee used to further the university's educational mission is not unconstitutional. First Amendment Exclusion of gays from the Boy Scouts - Boy Scouts of America v. Dale Respondent was an adult member of the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts revoked his membership upon learning that he was an avowed homosexual and gay rights activist, asserting that respondent's membership was inconsistent with their value system. The Court held that requiring the Boy Scouts to accept respondent as a member violated their First Amendment right of expressive association. It further concluded that the state interests embodied in New Jersey's public accommodations law did not justify such a severe intrusion on the freedom of expressive association. Open primaries and free association - California Democratic Party v. Jones California changed from a "closed primary" system, where only a political party's members can vote on its nominees, to a "blanket primary," where each voter's ballot lists every candidate regardless of party affiliation, allowing the voter to choose freely among them. The Court held that California's "blanket primary" violated a political party's First Amendment right to free association. It did not find the asserted state interests to be a compelling justification for the intrusion. Nude dancing and expressive speech - Erie v. Pap's A.M. The Court upheld a City ordinance that prohibited public nudity and included erotic dancing establishments within its definition of public places. Although nude dancing of the type at issue here is expressive conduct that falls within the outer ambit of First Amendment protection, the ordinance satisfied the four prong standard set forth in United States v. O'Brien (1968), for content neutral restrictions on symbolic speech. Content based cable regulations - United States v. Playboy The Telecommunications Act of 1996, requires cable television operators primarily dedicated to sexually oriented programming to either fully block those channels, or limit their transmission to hours when children are unlikely to be viewing. The Court struck down the law as violative of the First Amendment because the law failed to employ the least restrictive means for addressing the problem. As can be seen from the above decisions, The Supreme Court's rulings are a mixed bag. No hard conclusions about the direction of the court can be easily inferred. In one case they allowed a ban on nude dancing to stand, in another they struck down a law limiting adult channels on cable TV. In one case they allowed Government funds to be used for religious schools, but in another ruling they banned prayer before school sporting events. So the Supreme Court can't really be accused of an idealogical bias in their decisions. Certainly they were a busy court this term, making a near record number of decisions. (In this article we only dealt with the rulings that had an effect on civil rights.) Experts are predicting that the next President of the U.S. may appoint as many as four new Supreme Court Justices. Several long-standing justices of the 9 member court may retire in the next four years.

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