U.S. Politics And Society: Minority Interest Groups Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Interest groups representing racial and ethnic minorities are central to civil rights politics. Minority interest groups have mainly pursued a strategy of sponsor ing litigation because the federal courts are insulated from electoral politics. Despite the prominence of the litigation strategy, evidence suggests that litigation is not necessarily successful, and minority interest groups have adopted other strategies, such as organizing protests and lobbying government officials.

Litigation

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the quintessential minority interest group. Although minority interest groups can be traced back to abolitionist organizations, the NAACP, which W. E. B. Dubois and white civil rights activists formed in 1909, is the first modern group that sought continually to press the federal government to secure access to equal education, end employment discrimination, and establish universal suffrage. From its outset, the NAACP’s national headquarters has set policy goals and directed strategy, and local branches address local discrimination issues and implement the national headquarters’ strategies. Although the NAACP employed typical interest group tactics, such as protesting, lobbying, and mobilizing supporters, it initially focused on litigation to rectify racial discrimination because NAACP leaders recognized that the public and elected branches of government did not support their goals. However, this political disadvantage could be neutralized in the counter majoritarian federal courts, where success depends on skillful legal argument, not political support. In other words, the NAACP’s litigation campaign was not a legal aid mission; instead the national leaders carefully and strategically sought and litigated cases that were winnable and would have important civil rights ramifications. For example, the NAACP sponsored litigation of cases that ended the white primary elections (Nixon v. Herndon, 1927 and Smith v. Allwright, 1944) and racially discriminatory real estate contracts (Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948).

During the early 1940s, the legal arm of the NAACP—the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF)—officially severed ties with the NAACP in order to focus solely on using litigation to end segregated education. The LDF illustrated that the legal standard of “separate but equal” was unworkable because states that segregated did not provide for genuinely equal education. After undermining the separate-but-equal standard, the LDF expanded its attack on segregation by arguing the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. Using a creative mixture of cutting-edge legal argument and social science evidence, the LDF convinced a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court that state-sponsored segregation was contrary to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the Brown v. Board of Education decision did not by itself end segregation, it is undoubtedly one of the most important events in civil rights history, and the LDF’s victory set the model for using litigation as a means to improve civil rights for racial and ethnic minorities. The LDF has continued to litigate to advance civil rights in voting, criminal law, education, employment, and public accommodations.

Based on the LDF’s success, other racial and ethnic minority groups have employed a litigation strategy to improve the civil rights of the people they represent. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) argues cases on behalf of Latinos in order to influence policies concerning education and employment discrimination, immigration, and voting rights; the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) litigates civil rights issues for American Indians, such as protecting tribal identity and resources, ending discrimination against Indians, and negotiating with the federal and state governments on behalf of tribes and individuals; and the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) argues cases concerning Asian American civil rights issues of discrimination and immigration.

Nonlitigation Activities

Despite its prominence, litigation is not the only method that minority interest groups employ. Despite some landmark litigation successes, such as Brown v. Board of Education, the evidence is mixed on whether litigation is an effective tactic. Comprehensive studies of minority group litigation demonstrate that groups, such as the LDF, are not necessarily likely to increase the chance of favorable court decisions, especially since the 1980s, as the ideology of federal judges has become more conservative hence less receptive to the goals of minority interest groups.

As litigation has become less prevalent, minority interest groups have employed alternative methods of ending discrimination. Some organizations, such as the National Urban League, are social service agencies that provide economic and educational assistance, but many of these groups have expanded their activities to include sponsoring litigation, organizing protests, and researching public policy issues. Other organizations focus on lobbying elected officials and bureaucrats, organizing public protests, or mobilizing grassroots members. After the NAACP and LDF split into separate groups, the NAACP focused more on public protests against discrimination and lobbying public officials to enact and implement policies to end discrimination. Furthermore, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was headed by Martin Luther King Jr., organized boycotts, marches, and sit-ins during the 1960s. The SCLC continues to advocate for human rights both in the United States and abroad. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) employs a variety of tactics, such as litigating, protesting, providing economic and education assistance, and lobbying public officials to fight discrimination committed against Mexican Americans. There are a variety of groups that have lobbied public officials on behalf of Asian American nationalities. For example, in the 1980s, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) convinced Congress and President Reagan to pass a law apologizing and compensating for the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II (1939–1945). In addition to each individual tribal government advocating on behalf of their members, pantribal groups, such as the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), have lobbied Congress and educated the public concerning political and economic discrimination against American Indians. Finally, some groups, such as the Black Panther Party, shunned the approaches of the more traditional groups, instead focusing on provision of economic opportunities and a more confrontational approach against the government.

In conclusion, minority interest groups have played a central role in advancing civil rights, even if they do not always accomplish their goals. Traditionally, minority interest groups relied on litigation to bring about social change, but other methods, such as protesting, providing economic and education assistance, lobbying, and mobilizing voters, have also been useful to establish policies on behalf of racial and ethnic minority groups.

Bibliography:

Greenberg, Jack. Crusaders in the Court: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1994.
Hilliard, David, and Lewis Cole. This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party. Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.
League of United Latin American Citizens. “LULAC History: All for One and One for All.” www lulac.org/about/history/.
McClain, Paula D., and Joseph Stewart Jr. Can We All Get Along? Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics. 3rd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2002.
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “About MALDEF.” www.maldef.org/about.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “About the NAACP.” www.naacp.org/about/.
National Congress of American Indians. www.ncai.org/About/. National Urban League. www.nul.org.
Native American Rights Fund. “About NARF.” www.narf.org/about/about_whatwedo.html.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “Be the Solution.” www.sclcnational.org.
Tauber, Steven C. “The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Racial Discrimination Decision Making.” Social Science Quarterly 80 (1999): 325–340

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