Equal Protections under the Law Answers

How many members of Congress must approve a proposal to begin the amendment process?

Read remarks by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in the majority opinion for the Obergefell v. Hodges case. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that same-sex couples have the legal right to marry.[T]he right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. Same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. Baker v. Nelson is overruled. The State laws challenged by the petitioners in these cases are held invalid to the extent they exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.–Anthony M. Kennedy, June 26, 2015

Which statement best describes the process of amending the US Constitution?

The purpose of the Equal Rights Amendment is to guarantee equal rights for all citizens

Read the summary of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court case.The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court case combined five different cases centering on state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Supreme Court justice, argued the case against school segregation. In the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court had ruled that separate facilities for black and white people were legal as long as there was no meaningful difference in the quality of the facilities. This became known as the "separate but equal” rule. Marshall argued that separate schools could never be equal and were thus unconstitutional.