Does a civil right prevent action from the government?

Our government policy is set up in more or less of a pyramid. At the bottom are personal rights, civil rights, district ordinances and such. Then you have the state laws. And over state laws, we have laws that are for he entire country. If these highest laws are against a small law like a civil right, the country law lives while the smaller law is revoked. An example of this that I can think of off hand is when the Reconstruction was going on after the Civil War. Many Southern states had laws to keep the African Anericans in "their place" but that were revoked by our government eventually. So in a Word, no. A civil right cannot prevent action by the government if the government is "justified" in providing action.