From moral imperative to compliance: The evolution of civil rights in America

“ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That has been the living faith of our party. Do we forsake this article of faith, now that the time for our decision has come?
There is no substitute for a basic ideal. We have a firm duty to use the instrument at hand; namely, the cloture rule, to bring about the enactment of a good civil rights bill.
I appeal to all senators. We are confronted with a moral issue. Today let us not be found wanting in whatever it takes by way of moral and spiritual substance to face up to the issue and to vote cloture. ”

“ There is one thing about a moral ideal which sets it apart from all other ideals. It possesses a unique dynamic force. All ideals, it is true, have in them the impulsion to their embodiment in reality. But in a moral ideal there is the added imperative of conscience. There speaks from it the majestic voice of duty, demanding that the ideal be made actual in the life of the individual and of society. ”

“ In short it is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one or any number of men at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights when the great end of civil government from the very nature of its institution is for the support, protection and defence of those very rights: the principal of which as is before observed, are life liberty and property. ”

“ Civilization contemplates that fraternity, civil and political equality between man and man, that makes his rights, privileges and immunities inviolable and sacred in the eyes and hearts of his fellows, whatever may be his nationality, language, color, hair texture, or anything else that may make an external variation.
Civility comprehends harmony, system, method, complacency, urbanity, refinement, politeness, courtesy, justice, culture, general enlightenment and protection of life and person to any man, regardless of his color or nationality. ”

“ That the Senate wishes to act on a civil rights bill can be divined from the fact that the motion to take up was adopted by a vote of 67 to 17.
Reasons for cloture on civil rights There are many reasons why cloture should be invoked and a good civil rights measure enacted.
First. It is said that on the night he died, Victor Hugo wrote in his diary, substantially this sentiment:
Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come. The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing in government, in education, and in employment. ”

“ To argue that cloture is unwarranted or unjustified is to assert that in 1917, the Senate adopted a rule which it did not intend to use when circumstances required or that it was placed in the rulebook only as to be repudiated. It was adopted as an instrument for action when all other efforts failed.
Today the Senate is stalemated in its efforts to enact a civil rights bill, one version of which has already been approved by the House by a vote of more than 2 to 1. ”

“ Pending before us is another moral issue. Basically it deals with equality of opportunity in exercising the franchise, in securing an education, in making a livelihood, in enjoying the mantle of protection of the law. It has been a long, hard furrow and each generation must plow its share. Progress was made in 1957 and 1960. But the furrow does not end there. It requires the implementation provided by the substitute measure which is before us. And to secure that implementation requires cloture.
Let me add one thought to these observations. Today is an anniversary. ”

“ Any legislative or administrative provisions, as well as provisions relating to judicial organization, intended to preserve and extend the protection of human rights. In that connection, the national institution shall examine the legislation and administrative provisions in force, as well as bills and proposals, and shall make such recommendations as it deems appropriate in order to ensure that these provisions conform to the fundamental principles of human rights. ”

“ A covered entity must ensure that its vaccine registration and scheduling process provided through on-line registration is accessible to individuals with disabilities, including those who use assistive technology to access the internet. Program Accessibility. No individual with a disability may, because a covered entity’s facilities are inaccessible, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a covered entity, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination by a covered entity. ”

“ All of them reached the same conclusion: traditional attitudes toward minorities must give way to democratic concepts of civil rights.
If the integration of the armed services now seems to have been inevitable in a democratic society, it nevertheless faced opposition that had to be overcome and problems that had to be solved through the combined efforts of political and civil rights leaders and civil and military officials. In many ways the military services were at the cutting edge in the struggle for racial equality. ”

“ But the existing moral status is never wholly self-consistent. It realizes ideals in one relation which it does not in another; it gives rights to 'aristocrats' which it denies to low-born; to men, which it refuses to women; it exempts the rich from obligations which it imposes upon the poor. Its institutions embody a common good which turns out to be good only to a privileged few, and thus existing in self-contradiction. ”

“ There is another reason - our covenant with the people. For many years, each political party has given major consideration to a civil rights plank in its platform. Go back and reexamine our pledges to the country as we sought the suffrage of the people and for a grant of authority to manage and direct their affairs. ”

“ The whole agricultural, political, and social life of the South became dominated by the existence of negro slavery; and the problem of reconciling the expansion of such an institution with the logic of our national idea was bound to become critical. Our country was committed by every consideration of national honor and moral integrity to make its institutions thoroughly democratic, and it could not continue to permit the aggressive legal existence of human servitude without degenerating into a glaring example of political and moral hypocrisy. ”

“ Today they are fathers and grandfathers. They brought back impressions from countries where no discrimination existed. These impressions have been transmitted to children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of colored have become teachers and professors, doctors and dentists, engineers and architects, artists and actors, musicians and technicians. They have become status minded. They have sensed inequality. They are prepared to make the issue. They feel that the time has come for the idea of equal opportunity. To enact the pending measure by invoking cloture is imperative. ”

“ There is a South of union and freedom - that South thank God is living, breathing, growing every hour. America grows. America changes. And on the civil rights issue we must rise with the occasion. That calls for cloture and for the enactment of a civil rights bill. ”

“ In the debates that culminated in the acceptance of the Fourteenth Amendment, the theme of granting 'civil,' as distinguished from 'social,' rights constantly recurred. [29] Although it was commonly recognized that in some areas the civil-social distinction was misty, the critical fact is that it was generally understood that 'civil rights' certainly included the right of access to places of public accommodation for these were most clearly places and areas of life where the relations of men were traditionally regulated by governments. ”

“ A review of the relevant congressional debates reveals that the concept of civil rights which lay at the heart both of the contemporary legislative proposals and of the Fourteenth Amendment encompassed the right to equal treatment in public places-a right explicitly recognized to be a 'civil' rather than a 'social' right. ”

“ I claim this power for the Nation. If it be said that the power has never been employed, then I say that the time has come for its employment. I claim it on at least three several grounds.
1. There is the Constitutional Amendment, already adopted by the people, which invests Congress with plenary powers to secure the abolition of Slavery,—ay, its “extirpation,” according to the promise of the Baltimore platform,—including the right to sue and testify in court, and the right also to vote. The distinction attempted between what are called civil rights and political rights is a modern invention. ”

“ If it is a bill for social equality, so is the Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men have equal rights; so is the Sermon on the Mount; so is the golden rule that commands us to do to others as we would that others should do to us; so is the teaching of the Apostle that of one blood God has made all nations to dwell on the face of the earth; so is the Constitution of the United States, and so are the laws and customs of every civilized country in the world; for nowhere, outside of the United States, is any man denied civil rights on account of his color. ”

“ Every student deserves to learn in a safe and supportive setting, free from discrimination. As the Department of Education has reaffirmed, discrimination based on sex—including sexual orientation and gender identity—isn’t just wrong, it’s prohibited in America’s schools. Yet many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students experience bullying, harassment, and other discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. ”

“ Title IX protects all students at institutions that receive federal funding, including all public K-12 schools and almost all colleges and universities. To learn more about how Title IX protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination, check out OCR’s resources for LGBTQ+ students. Anyone who believes that a school receiving federal funding has discriminated against someone because they identify as LGBTQ+ or because they do not conform with sex stereotypes, or for another reason, can file a complaint with OCR within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. ”

“ Additional research cited in a report from the Department’s Office for Civil Rights found transgender youth were more likely to report feeling unsafe at school and being bullied, and that the COVID-19 pandemic harmed their mental health. Some transgender students experience multiple forms of discrimination at once, including race, gender or disability discrimination, which amplify the challenges they face. ”

“ The development of moral feeling respecting the wrongfulness of slavery did not cease with the emancipation of the slaves as a result of the Civil War. Indeed, with the reform an accomplished fact, the clarification of the moral sense of the people has gone on uninterruptedly until a gulf has come to separate the present-day conscience of the great majority of the instructed and thinking classes in both sections of the Union from the conscience of the same classes one or two generations ago. ”

“ Equally important for the moral ideal is it whether the civilization of which it forms one element is progressive or unprogressive; for changes in the moral standard are largely dependent on changes in the other elements of civilization. Where the intellectual life and the religious ideas remain unmodified, and where all political, social, and industrial institutions remain essentially unchanged, we need not look for fundamental changes in ethical ideas and convictions. ”

“ If a county vaccine program selects one or more sites for distribution of a vaccine, and individuals with mobility disabilities are unable to travel to any of the vaccination sites for reasons related to their disabilities, the program will have to find an alternative way to provide individuals with disabilities access to the vaccine program, which could include the provision of transportation to the site or, vaccine administration at home or at a site to which individuals with disabilities are able to travel. ”

“ A covered entity may not use eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or a group of individuals with disabilities, unless the criteria are necessary for the provision of the service, program, or activity being offered. ”

“ A covered entity must take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as communications with others and provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to afford a qualified individual with a disability an equal opportunity to participate in the service, program or activity. ”

“ For the ideal distinction taken in common thought between legal and merely moral rules seems to lie in just this connexion of the former but not the latter with punishment: we think that there are some things which a man ought to be compelled to do, or forbear, and others which he ought to do or forbear without compulsion, and that the former alone fall properly within the sphere of law. No doubt we also think that in many cases where the compulsion of law is undesirable, the fear of moral censure and its consequences supplies a normally useful constraint on the will of any individual. ”

“ An inflexible requirement that people perform certain tasks for themselves as part of the process, such as completing paperwork at the vaccine site or rolling up one’s sleeve to get vaccinated, could have a discriminatory effect on individuals with disabilities. Reasonable Modifications. A covered entity must make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures, when necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless making the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. ”

“ On request, a covered entity must modify its social distancing requirements to permit individuals with disabilities to access vaccination sites safely, so long as the modifications would not fundamentally alter the vaccination program. Some people with disabilities may require assistance from a designated support person to attend their vaccination appointment. Generally, even if the provider does not allow individuals to bring someone with them, it must modify its policy to allow the individual with a disability to bring a support person with them to the appointment. ”

“ Some individuals with disabilities may be unable, because of the disability, to keep a mask on for a long period of time in a vaccination facility. In that situation, a reasonable modification may be to allow the individual to fill out the paperwork for check-in at home or outside the facility, limit the time that the individual is inside to receive the vaccine, or offer curbside or in-home vaccinations. Similarly, if some individuals with disabilities have difficulty, because of a disability, standing in line for long periods of time, the program can provide seating for those individuals. ”

“ A covered entity may not assign a lower priority to individuals with disabilities, such as individuals with a developmental disability, for a vaccine, based on social stigma or stereotypes about disability, or assessments of quality of life or judgments about an individual’s relative worth based on a disability. ”

“ Using welcoming and inclusive language in school, district, college, and university mission statements, such as a commitment to ensuring a safe and supportive campus that is free from discrimination and harassment for LGBTQ+ students. Ensuring that school policies clearly affirm students’ right to be free from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all aspects of school, including the nondiscriminatory use of discipline and equal access to school programs and activities. ”