Civil Rights Act of 1968

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Pub. L. 90–284, 82 Stat. 73), signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1968, is the third pillar of the landmark civil-rights legislation of the 1960s, following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Its centerpiece, Titles VIII and IX, is universally known as the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, and national origin (sex was added in 1974, and disability and familial status by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988). Enacted under Congress's power derived from the Commerce Clause and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, the law passed the Senate after a protracted filibuster and gained decisive momentum in the House in the week following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, which triggered urban uprisings across more than 100 cities.

Beyond housing, the Act is a composite statute addressing several distinct domains. Titles II through VII constitute the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, which applied much of the Bill of Rights to tribal governments while respecting tribal sovereignty—a provision later interpreted in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez (1978), where the Supreme Court held that the Act did not authorize federal-court suits against tribes except for habeas corpus. Title I created the federal crime of using interstate commerce to incite or participate in a riot (the "anti-riot" provision, sometimes called the Rap Brown Law), and also federalized penalties for interfering with civil rights such as voting, employment, and jury service. The Fair Housing provisions are enforced today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice, with aggrieved parties able to file administrative complaints or pursue private litigation.

The Fair Housing Act closed a critical gap left by Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968), decided two months after passage, in which the Court held that 42 U.S.C. §1982—a Reconstruction-era statute—already barred private racial discrimination in property transactions under the Thirteenth Amendment. As of 2026, the 1968 Act remains the principal federal bulwark against housing discrimination, periodically litigated over questions such as disparate-impact liability, which the Court upheld under the Act in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project (2015). It complements the 1964 Act's bans on discrimination in employment and public accommodations by extending nondiscrimination into the residential sphere.

For the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test), the Act appears in the U.S. History, Government, and Civics component, where candidates must distinguish the three major civil-rights statutes (1964, 1965, 1968) by subject matter: public accommodations and employment (1964), the franchise (1965), and housing plus Native American rights (1968). The typical question angle tests the link between King's assassination and the Act's passage, the identity of the Fair Housing Act, and the contrast with the earlier statutes. Candidates should also recall the 1988 amendments adding disability and familial status as protected classes.