The Mount of the House of the Lord
WASHINGTON - The civil rights bill, which the House passed February 10,1964 by a vote of 290 to 130 and passed by the Senate June 19th, 1964 by a vote of 73 to 27, has these provisions:
Prohibits registrars from applying different standards for (Caucasians) and (Afro- disqualifying (Afro-Americans) for immaterial errors on voter applications. Requires that literacy tests be written except where applicant requests,. and law allows, oral tests, and that copies of questions and answers be available to applicant. In voting suits, makes a sixth-grade education a rebuttable presumption of literacy. Permits Attorney General or defendant to ask for three-judge court in voting cases.
Prohibits refusal of service or segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, places of amusement and gas stations if their operations affect inter-state commerce or if discrimination or segregation is supported by state action. Allows aggrieved party or Attorney General to sue for relief through civil injunction.
Requires that (Afro-Americans) have equal access to, and treatment in, facilities such as municipal parks, golf courses and swimming pools. Authorizes the Attorney General to intervene in suits initiated by citizens charging they have been denied equal protection of the laws.
Empowers the Attorney General to bring school desegregation suits, a power not granted in the 1957 act. Authorizes the Commissioner of Education to give assistance to communities in planning school desegregation.
Extends for four years the Civil Rights Commission.
Directs all Federal agencies to take action against discrimination in programs receiving Federal aid, and permits withholding of funds from state and local agencies practicing discrimination in these programs.
Bans discrimination by employers or unions with more than 25 employees or members. Establishes a Fair Employment Opportunity Commission that can bring suit to enforce its views where it cannot end discrimination by persuasion, but allows the courts and not the commission to determine fact of discrimination.
Directs the Census Bureau. to compile statistics, by race, showing the number of persons of voting age and the number registered and voting in areas of the country designated by the Civil Rights Commission.
Allows a criminal defendant who tries to move his case from state to Federal court, alleging possible denial of civil rights in the state trial, who is sent back by a Federal District Judge, to appeal that decision.
Establishes a Community Relations Service of no more than seven persons in the Commerce Department to help conciliate local racial disputes.
Provides that the statute shall not invalidate state laws with consistent purposes; assures that no existing legal powers of Federal officials are diminished.