Shelley Rationale Β·Relied on Fourteenth Amendment
Specifically, equal protection under the law for all U.S. citizens. But that only applied to state actors, not individuals. And racial covenants were private contracts.
The Shelly decision argues that while the contracts are between private actors, the enforcement of them is state action and therefore unconstitutional.
Dissolves the distinction between state and private action. Every private contract assumes state enforcement. According to Shelley, every private contract must conform to constitutional standards.
SCOTUS and lower courts recognize this flaw and they don't even apply Shelleyβs rationale. The do the opposite: they enforce private agreements that would violate constitutional rights, e.g., the right to free speech.
Read before and after the referenced line to better understand its purpose. Before the question, the author notes that the 14th Amendment applies only to actions by the state, not to actions by individuals. Given that private contracts seem to involve only individuals, not the state, the author then raises the question about where the state action was in Shelley v. Kraemer. We probably canβt get a very specific anticipation here, but the purpose of the question is something along the lines of, βto explore an issue relevant to Shelley v. Kraemer.β
Not supported, because the author never suggests that a distinction used by the Shelley court is conceptually incoherent. Although the author does criticize the attribution rationale used by the Court, the author doesnβt criticize the distinction between state action and individual action. Rather, the author criticizes the use of attribution logic to label enforcement of a contract as state action. To the author, this shouldnβt be considered state action. But this doesnβt mean the author thinks a difference between state action and individual action is incoherent. In fact, the author actually thinks the distinction IS coherent, and that the Court should have kept that distinction clear.
This best captures the purpose of the question. A potentially confusing issue is how the 14th Amendment could apply to racially restrictive covenants, even though it seems only private parties are involved in making the covenants. The author raises this issue and explains how the Court handled it.
c
suggest that the βββββββ βββββ βββ βββ ββββββββ ββββββ ββ βββ βββββ ββ βββ ββββ ββ βββ ββββββββ
The author never suggests the Court didnβt properly consider the facts of the case. The issue is with the Courtβs application of the attribution rationale; to the author, it stretches what is a reasonable understanding of state action. But the author never accuses the Court of failing to realize that the contract was made by private individuals or of failing to consider other facts.
The author never questions the basis of the 14th Amendment.
Difficulty
55% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%134
156
75%178
Analysis
Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
Critique or debate
Law
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
34%
160
b
55%
162
c
5%
156
d
1%
149
e
4%
151
Question history
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