A _civil_ right is a right that is asserted and is therefore protected by some valid law. It may be asserted by the common law, or by local or federal statutes, or by the Constitution; _but unless a right is incorporated in the law, it is not a civil right and is not enforceable by the instruments of the civil law_. There may be some rights--“natural,” “human,” or otherwise--that _should_ also be civil rights. But if we desire to give such rights the protection of the law, our recourse is to a legislature or to the amendment procedures of the Constitution. We must not look to politicians, or sociologists--or the courts--to correct the deficiency. In the field of racial relations, there are some rights that are clearly protected by valid laws and are therefore “civil” rights. One of them is the right to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment provides that no one shall be denied the franchise on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. Similarly with certain legal privileges enforced by the Fourteenth Amendment. The legislative history of that amendment makes it clear (I quote from the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which the Amendment was designed to legitimize) that people of all races shall be equally entitled “to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, to purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property.” After the passage of that Act and the Amendment, all persons, Negroes included, had a “civil” right to these protections. It is otherwise, let us note, with education. For the federal Constitution does _not_ require the States to maintain racially mixed schools. Despite the recent holding of the Supreme Court, I am firmly convinced--not only that integrated schools are not required--but that the Constitution does not permit any interference whatsoever by the federal government in the field of education. It may be just or wise or expedient for negro children to attend the same schools as white children, but they do not have a civil right to do so which is protected by the federal constitution, or which is enforceable by the federal government. The intentions of the founding fathers in this matter are beyond any doubt: _no powers regarding education were given the federal government_. Consequently, under the Tenth Amendment, jurisdiction over the entire field was reserved to the States. The remaining question is whether the Fourteenth Amendment--concretely, that amendment’s “equal protection” clause--modified the original prohibition against federal intervention.