Letter from Birmingham Jail

“Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?”

-Excerpt from King, Martin Luther Jr., “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” in Why We Can’t Wait, ed. Martin Luther King, Jr., 77-100, 1963.

Which of the following statements best explains Martin Luther King's argument regarding democratic participation in the above excerpt?

• The federal government’s undemocratic control of the Alabama state legislature is responsible for preventing African Americans from registering to vote

• Through devious methods, the majority of Alabama state legislators are able to undermine federal statutes outlawing segregation

• Segregation laws and the disenfranchisement of African Americans are unjust if they are not supported by the state legislature

• A law affecting African Americans is unjust if they had no part in creating it as a result of being denied the right to vote

“An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963.

Which of the following constitutional provisions guarantees that “sameness [is] made legal” in King’s argument?

• The establishment clause of the First Amendment

• The full faith and credit clause of Article IV

• The faithful execution clause of Article II

• The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

“An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963.

Supporters of King’s view that just laws treat the majority and minority the same could point to which of the following Supreme Court cases?

• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

• McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

• A

• B

• C

• D