DEFINITION

• Civil Rights Law in the United States is based in federal and state constitutional law, statutes, administrative regulation and enforcement, and judicial interpretation of what constitutes a violation or deprivation of basic rights.

• Many civil rights, such as the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, are granted explicitly by the U.S. Constitution.

• Other civil rights have been created by statutes enacted by Congress or state legislatures, such as the right to be free from discrimination based on race, or the right of men and women to receive equal pay for equal work.

• The U.S. Supreme Court, along with its state counterparts, has had a critical role in helping to define Civil Rights Law. The Supreme Court decided, for example, that sexual harassment constitutes unlawful sex discrimination both in the workplace and in education.

• Federal statutes in the area of Civil Rights Law include the Civil Rights Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Equal Pay Act. Other federal acts, as supplemented by court decisions, prohibit discrimination in voting rights, housing, extension of credit, public education, and access to public facilities.

FIND A CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER IN YOUR AREA.

Learn more about Civil Rights:

• Discrimination & Harassment in Employment
• Your Rights in the Criminal Justice System
• Housing Discrimination & Fair Housing Rights

RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

Constitutional Law
Employment Law -- Employee
Employment Law -- Employer
Health & Health Care Law
Criminal Law

BUZZWORDS

Age Discrimination in Employment Act - Federal legislation prohibiting unfair and discriminatory treatment in employment on the basis of age. The Act generally covers individuals at least 40 years of age. (29 U.S.C. Sec. 621)

Civil Rights Act - Federal statutes enacted after the Civil War, intended to implement and give further force to basic personal rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Such Acts prohibit discrimination based on race, color, age or religion.

Disparate Treatment - Differential treatment of employees or applicants on the basis of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or veteran's status.

Discrimination - Unfair treatment or denial of normal privileges to persons because of their race, age, sex, nationality or religion.

Equal Pay Act - Federal law which mandates the same pay for all persons who do the same work without regard to sex, age, etc. For work to be equal within meaning of Act, it is not necessary that jobs be identical but only that they be substantially equal. (29 U.S.C. Sec. 206)

Equal Protection Clause - That provision in the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which prohibits a state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Protected Class - Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the groups the law sought to protect, including groups based on race, sex, national origin and religion.

Search and Seizure - The body of law which covers the issues of examining a person's property with the intention of finding evidence not in plain view (search) and taking possession of that property against the will of its owner or possessor (seizure).

Sexual Harassment - A type of employment discrimination that includes sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature prohibited by federal law.

PRACTICE AREA NOTES

• Although the term "civil rights" usually refers to the civil rights movement in this country in the 1960s, the term is now used interchangeably with individual rights and human rights.
• The Department of Justice enforces all civil rights laws.  The enforcement can be either civil (enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, handicap, religion, and national origin), or criminal (cases of national significance involving the deprivation of personal liberties such as acts of racial violence).