When is protected rights being abolished

Southern states also resisted, but Congress required them to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments as a condition of regaining representation in Congress, and the ongoing presence of the Union Army in the former Confederate states ensured their compliance. On July 9, , Louisiana and South Carolina voted to ratify the 14th Amendment, making up the necessary three-fourths majority. The opening sentence of Section One of the 14th Amendment defined U.

Over time, the Supreme Court has interpreted this clause to guarantee a wide array of rights against infringement by the states, including those enumerated in the Bill of Rights freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, right to bear arms, etc.

Section Two of the 14th Amendment repealed the three-fifths clause Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the original Constitution, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning congressional representation. With slavery outlawed by the 13th Amendment, this clarified that all residents, regardless of race, should be counted as one whole person.

This section also guaranteed that all male citizens over age 21, no matter their race, had a right to vote. Southern states continued to deny Black men the right to vote using a collection of state and local statutes during the Jim Crow era. Subsequent amendments to the Constitution granted women the right to vote and lowered the legal voting age to Section Three of the amendment, gave Congress the authority to bar public officials, who took an oath of allegiance to the U.

Constitution, from holding office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution. The intent was to prevent the president from allowing former leaders of the Confederacy to regain power within the U. It states that a two-thirds majority vote in Congress is required to allow public officials who had engaged in rebellion to regain the rights of American citizenship and hold government or military office.

It states that: "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

Section Four of the 14th Amendment prohibited payment of any debt owed to the defunct Confederate States of America. It also banned any payments to former enslavers as compensation for the loss of human "property" enslaved people. In giving Congress power to pass laws to safeguard the sweeping provisions of Section One, in particular, the 14th Amendment effectively altered the balance of power between the federal and state governments in the United States.

Nearly a century later, Congress used this authority to pass landmark civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of and the Voting Rights Act of In T inker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District , the Court upheld the right of middle and high school students to wear black armbands to school to protest U.

One of the most controversial examples of symbolic speech has produced a series of flag desecration cases, including Spence v. Washington , Texas v. Johnson , and United States v.

Eichman Despite repeated attempts by Congress to make it illegal to burn or deface the flag, the Court has held that such actions are protected. Writing for the majority in Texas v. Johnson, Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Paul , the Court overturned a local hate crime statute that had been used to convict a group of boys who had burned a cross on the lawn of a black family living in a predominately white neighborhood.

The Court qualified this opinion in Virginia v. Black , holding that the First Amendment did not protect such acts when their purpose was intimidation. This article was originally published in Elizabeth Purdy, Ph. Hemmer, Joseph J. Lanham, Md. Irons, Peter H. Brennan vs. Rehnquist: The Battle for the Constitution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Kennedy, Sheila Seuss.

Westport, Conn. Kersch, Ken I. Freedom of Speech, Rights, and Liberties under the Law. Santa Barbara, Calif. Levy, Leonard. New York: Harper and Row, Rudanko, Juhani. Sherman, Daniel J. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, However, the atrocities and human rights violations that occurred during World War II galvanised worldwide opinion and made human rights a universal concern.

During World War II millions of soldiers and civilians were killed or maimed. The Nazi regime in Germany created concentration camps for certain groups - including Jews, communists, homosexuals and political opponents. Some of these people were used as slave labour, others were exterminated in mass executions. The Japanese occupation of China and other Asian countries was marked by frequent and large-scale brutality toward local populations. Japanese forces took thousands of prisoners of war who were used as slave labour, with no medical treatment and inadequate food.

The promotion and protection of human rights became a fundamental objective of the Allied powers. In , U. President Roosevelt proclaimed the 'Four Freedoms' that people everywhere in the world ought to enjoy - freedom of speech and belief, and freedom from want and fear. The war ended in , but only after the destruction of millions of lives, including through the first and only use of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many countries were devastated by the war, and millions of people died or became homeless refugees. This new organisation was the United Nations, known as the UN, which came into existence in A s the war drew to a close, the victorious powers decided to establish a world organisation that would prevent further conflict and help build a better world.

The UN's strong emphasis on human rights made it different from previous international organisations. UN member countries believed that the protection of human rights would help ensure freedom, justice and peace for all in the future. Values of tolerance, equality and respect can help reduce friction within society. Putting human rights ideas into practice can helps us create the kind of society we want to live in. In recent decades, there has been a tremendous growth in how we think about and apply human rights ideas.

This has had many positive results - knowledge about human rights can empower individuals and offer solutions for specific problems. Human rights are an important part of how people interact with others at all levels in society - in the family, the community, schools, the workplace, in politics and in international relations.

Give unauthorized preference or advantage to any person to improve or injure the employment prospects of any particular employee or applicant. Engage in nepotism. Retaliate against an employee or an applicant because of an individual's legal disclosure of information evidencing wrongdoing "whistleblowing". Retaliate against an employee or applicant for exercising an appeal, complaint or grievance right; testifying or assisting another in exercising such a right, cooperating with an Inspector General or the Special Counsel, or refusing to obey an order that would break a law.

Discriminate against an employee based on conduct which is not adverse to on-the-job performance of the employee, applicant, or others. The Office of Personnel Management OPM has interpreted the prohibition of discrimination based on "conduct" to include discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Violate any law, rule, or regulation which implements or directly concerns the merit principles. I Would Like To