THE 1970s: LAW AND JUSTICE: OVERVIEW

Society and the Law

Law, courts, and lawyers played increasing roles in the central social and political conflicts of the 1970s. Concerns about rising crime rates, the rights of the accused, and the death penalty were key social issues. Growing prison populations and prison riots raised difficult questions about prison conditions and the use of stricter sentencing to respond to rising crime rates. Debates about school busing and school desegregation were carried on in courtrooms and in the streets. The Supreme Court established a woman's right to abortion and changed the course of national politics. Legal disputes over the president's executive privilege and custody of the White House tapes played a pivotal role in the Watergate crisis. And environmental groups and business firms fought out the battles of environmental policy in courtrooms across the country.

Crime in the 1970s

Public concern about crime remained high, constantly near the top of the list of the most important issues. Crime statistics showed increased rates in the early 1970s, a leveling off during the middle years, and an increase again at the end of the decade. In the major cities crime declined somewhat, particularly crimes against property. In smaller cities and towns it rose slightly. Despite variability in different areas, people's fears seemed to increase across the country. Americans who could afford it increased their use of alarms and watchdogs. They also supported more spending on police and prisons.

Law and Order

Conservatives such as Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew argued that the rise in crime was a result of the decline of family responsibility and growing social permissiveness, particularly with regard to sexual behavior and drug use. Sexually oriented movies and magazines became more available, even in small towns and rural areas. Fewer couples felt that marriage was a prerequisite for living together. More children were born outside of marriage and in single-parent families. Divorce rates climbed. Much of the public and many officials condoned marijuana use, and several states decriminalized its possession. Conservatives campaigned to reestablish family responsibility and respect for the law. While they achieved some of their policy goals, crime rates, births by unwed mothers, and drug use came down slowly, if at all.

Nixon and the Supreme Court

In his 1968 campaign Nixon told Americans that the Supreme Court had over-stepped its constitutional role. He criticized the Warren Court's expansion of the rights of accused criminals and its use of busing to desegregate public schools. He pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would reverse the liberal decisions of the Warren Court. Nixon's appointments did move the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction. The Court backtracked somewhat on the rights of accused criminals, but not as much as Nixon wanted. The court also limited the application of school-desegregation orders, particularly in northern cities. However, the court also established a woman's right to an abortion and expanded protections against employment discrimination. Nixon's desire for a "constitutional counter-revolution" against the Warren Court's judicial activism would have to wait until the 1980s and President Ronald Reagan and George Bush's appointments to the Court.

Ethics in Government

Nixon's law-and-order stance was undermined by the behavior of his own administration. The Watergate affair, the Nixon administration's "enemies list," and the illegal searches and wiretapping revealed what many Americans saw as governmental contempt for the law. "Koreagate," a scandal involving bribes from Korean lobbyists, subjected leading congressmen to similar criticisms. As a result, government officials were subject to much closer scrutiny of their adherence to law. The public carefully monitored financial investments of Carter administration members and their use of power in office.

The Environmental Decade

Public support for stronger environmental laws blossomed in the 1970s. Congress enacted new statutes to achieve cleaner air and water and to increase the consideration of the environment in governmental decision making. These issues often ended up in the courts. However, courts often had difficulty sorting out priorities between environmental protection and the economic interests of polluting firms.

Equality for Women

The woman's rights movement grew out of the earlier civil rights movement. Constitutional questions provided the material for much of the movement. The Supreme Court considered whether distinguishing between men and women was analogous to distinguishing among people by race and thus almost always unconstitutional. The Court concluded that states might sometimes have reasons for distinguishing between men and women. But they had to have good reasons.

Equal Rights Amendment

While the Court was struggling with determining the conditions under which the law could discriminate according to gender, the country was considering a constitutional amendment that would have made those distinctions much harder. The Equal Rights Amendment fell three states short of ratification in 1982. It would have prohibited states from abridging rights on the basis of sex.

Abortion

Some women in the women's movement saw men's and women's different responsibilities in child-bearing as important for women's equality. Some argued for a constitutional right to choose to have an abortion. In 1973 in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton the Supreme Court upheld a woman's right to choose an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. This decision, alongside the movement for the Equal Rights Amendment, threatened many women who were concerned that these rights made women's roles in the home less important. They opposed access to abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Equal Protection of the Laws

Equality for women was just one area of equality that Americans debated. The Court's interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection, inspired discussions about racial inequality in education and employment. Court decisions expanded some of the protections for racial minorities. However, they also began to take account of many white Americans' fears that such laws discriminated against them. The federal courts' affirmative-action decisions, in particular, struggled to draw the line between adequate protection for minorities and claims by white males that they were being wrongly deprived of opportunities.

Divorce

Divorce touched more families than ever before. Between 1964 and 1974 the divorce rate doubled. While Americans became more willing to dissolve marriages, they also showed concern for what divorce meant for families. Movies such as Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) linked divorce with the women's movement by showing women leaving their marriages to find happiness. In reality, many women and children were financially dependent on their husbands and fathers. The lack of enforcement of child-support laws would emerge as an issue in the 1980s.

Unresolved Issues

Law and courts became more involved in these issues, but that did not usually mean that conflict over the issues was resolved. Most of these issues remained important and difficult. The increased political strength of the religious Right and the judicial appointments of the Reagan and Bush administrations also resulted in a continued shift toward decisions that were more conservative, finally overturning some of the more liberal decisions of the 1960s and early 1970s.