Landmark Laws You Should Know About

Law exists to protect American citizens. You have rights. The law protects those rights – and the rights of others. Some landmark laws pose particularly tough questions of law; questions of whether the protection is adequate, or whether a law is just. These landmark laws provoke conversation and debate, and you should definitely know about them if you’re thinking of pursuing a career in law.

Landmark Laws Based on the First Amendment

The First Amendment encompasses some of the most important rights of American citizens: the right to assemble, freedom of speech and press, and freedom of religion. The First Amendment is one of the most cited Constitutional clauses, and it has over 31 laws to protect it. These landmark laws range from old and outdated to current and very relevant, and include:

  • The Comstock Act of 1873, regarding obscenity;
  • The Anti-Dial-a-Porn Act of 1988;
  • The Child Online Protection Act of 1998;
  • PROTECT Act of 2003

Many of these First Amendment laws make it all the way to the Supreme Court and are either upheld or ruled unconstitutional. If you’re considering studying law, the First Amendment landmark laws are worth learning.

Civil Rights Landmark Laws

The body of law surrounding civil rights is another important area of landmark laws that affect how people live their lives every single day. The Declaration if Independence states that all men are created equal, but American law hasn’t provided equal protection to all American citizens throughout United States history. Civil rights advocates continue to work to create new landmark laws and challenge unjust landmark laws to protect civil rights. Some of these noteworthy laws include:

  • The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863;
  • The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution during Post-War Reconstruction in the 1860s;
  • Executive Orders 8802, 9808, 9980, 9981 – and more – starting in the early 1940s, beginning the Civil Rights era;
  • The Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964;
  • The Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Civil rights landmark laws have gone a long way toward realizing that dream of “all men created equal,” but continue to be noteworthy laws argued in court today. Modern civil rights laws currently up for debate center around gay marriage rights, and represent today’s challenges to civil rights. With the lack of a centralized federal ruling, many states are individually working to resolve the question of gay marriage, and civil rights advocates continue to work toward passing important laws to protect these rights.

Landmark Laws Governing Social Security and Welfare

A mark of the government is how well it protects its citizens. Social security and welfare are government programs designed to protect and provide opportunities for certain demographics, but law surrounding these programs is refined and updated on an ongoing basis. A few important laws surrounding social security and welfare include:

  • The Homestead Act of 1862;
  • The Social Security Act of 1935;
  • The Federal Disability Insurance Amendment of 1956;
  • The Public Welfare Amendments of 1962;
  • The Economic Opportunity Act and Food Stamp Act in 1964;
  • The WIC Program of 1972;
  • The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.

These are just a few of the laws surrounding government aid programs for targeted demographics of American citizens. Welfare and social security remain hot topics as the national debt mounts, and questions of government aid for Generation X and Generation Y become important considerations. Law surrounding social security and welfare must continue to evolve as national finances become strained, leading to questions of what will happen to these laws in the future.