Law and Legal Research

Jump to: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Removal of Civil Rights | Massachusetts Law & Enforcement | Resources for those facing Discrimination

What Are Civil Rights?

Civil rights are often confused with civil liberties. Civil rights deal with legal protections or enforceable rights/privileges. They are not in the Bill of Rights. For example, the right to vote is a civil right but not a civil liberty. Civil liberties are natural rights which are inherent to each person, such as those listed in the Bill of Rights - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for examples.

Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with. Various jurisdictions have enacted statutes to prevent discrimination based on a person's race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual orientation.

Wex Law Dictionary provides a history of civil rights and the law starting with the Reconstruction Era and ending with Disenfranchisement, or the removal of Civil Rights. This guide highlights the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Massachusetts Law, and resources for those facing discrimination.

Federal Law

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), and religion in employment, education, and access to public facilities and public accommodations, such as restaurants and hotels. The employment provisions of the law are often referred to as "Title VII," based on their location in the U.S. Code. A brief history of the Act:

"In June 1963, President John Kennedy asked Congress for a comprehensive civil rights bill, induced by massive resistance to desegregation and the murder of Medgar Evers. After Kennedy's assassination in November, President Lyndon Johnson pressed hard... to secure the bill's passage the following year. In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241)....Passage of the Act ended the application of "Jim Crow" laws, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Court held that racial segregation purported to be "separate but equal" was constitutional." (US DOL)

Specific Civil Rights are discussed in detail in different subject areas of this research guide such as housing law, disability law, and others.

The US Justice Department has a Civil Rights Division which "enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, religion, familial status, national origin, and citizenship status."

With enforcement policies in place, how is the removal of Civil Rights possible?

Disenfranchisement or Removal of Civil Rights

Disenfranchisement most frequently refers to the removal of voting rights, but the removal of any civil right is disenfranchisement. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S. Code § 10101) states: "All citizens of the United States who are otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people . . . shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." However, states can prohibit convicted felons from voting after serving their prison sentence, though felons can still become President, as noted in the 2024 US election with convicted felon Donald Trump getting re-elected as President. 

Voter disenfranchisement is a popular method of controlling the public and therefore who gets voted into office. The image above from the ACLU (Nov, 2024) highlights how frequently this basic democratic Civil Right is taken from American citizens. The 2013 Supreme Court decision they are referring to is The Shelby County Decision.

Gerrymandering, strict voter photo ID laws, restricting mail-in voting, are just a few voter suppression methods that are popularly used. The Justice Coalition has a list of 72 Forms of Voter Suppression. 

What Laws Does Your State Have that Disenfranchise Voters?

The State Voting Rights Tracker by the Voting Rights Lab analyzes voting and election laws across all 50 states and the District of Columbia and provides near-real time analysis of voting rights legislation pending across the country.  

Massachusetts Civil Rights - Law & Enforcement

In 1979 Massachusetts passed the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA). The US Attorney's Office - District of Massachusetts has a list of Civil Rights Offenses, organized by statue. See the webpage Massachusetts law about discrimination from the Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries. They cover all Massachusetts laws & regulations that prohibit discrimination, including the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. 

"MCAD is the independent state agency that enforces the Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws by investigating complaints of discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other aspects of everyday life."

MCAD is a neutral entity. Anyone who lives in, works in, or visits Massachusetts may file a complaint if they believe they were treated differently or unfairly based on their identity as a member of a protected class.

Massachusetts also has the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division. You may file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office If you believe a company, business, organization has violated your rights. The AG is a government agency, as opposed to MCAD. The division enforces the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act by obtaining civil rights injunctions to protect victims of bias-motivated threats, intimidation, coercion and violence and advocates for civil rights and civil liberties by reviewing policy and legislation and filing amicus briefs in civil rights cases.

Voting in Massachusetts

"In the history of voting procedures, Massachusetts has often been an innovator. In the 1600s, Puritans moved beyond dropping beans and corn kernals in a basket on Election Day to submitting votes for governor and other colony-wide offices in writing. After independence, Massachusetts ratified a constitution that - pointedly - did not exclude Black or Native American voters (although limiting the vote to men of property)." See the Massachusetts Votes! PDF from the Secretary of the Commonwealth for the whole history of voting in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth is responsible for not only the above but also gerrymandering, adoption of the "Australian Ballot", and early forms of voter suppression.

Voting Rights & Rules 

You have the right to vote in MA if you are:

• A U.S. Citizen  
• A resident of Massachusetts 
• 16 years or older (you may vote if you will be 18 on or before Election Day) 
• Not currently incarcerated  

The Secretary of the Commonwealth published the Massachusetts Voters' Bill of Rights. If you feel that your right to vote has been violated in any way, call the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division at 1-800-462-VOTE (8683). This call is free within Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office will protect your right to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.