Legal Dictionary: Civil Rights Law

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
• Civil Rights Act
• Disparate Treatment
• Discrimination
• Equal Protection Clause
• Protected Class

For more Civil Rights Law definitions, visit the Civil Rights Law Glossary in the FindLaw Legal Dictionary.

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).