ABSTRACT
A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. Competing judicial philosophies have always been critical to the development of civil rights and liberties. The US Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned the doctrine of separate but equal in public schools; the Civil Rights Act; and the Voting Rights Act are examples of governmental action intended to protect civil rights. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court argued that while culture should not have a role in its interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, that same amendment had not been intended to abolish the social conventions of the day. In doing so, the Court provided the constitutional foundation for segregation of the races. The chapter also presents an overview of this book.
