Case Study On Brown V Board Of Education 1954

US Supreme Court Case Study (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954)

This was an important decision in the United States in which the Court ruled that all the State laws that promoted the setting up of separate public learning institutions for the whites and the blacks were unconstitutional. This is a decision that overturned the decision that had been made earlier in the Plessy v. Ferguson[1] which was made in 1896 in which the court allowed state segregation as far as public schools were concerned[2]. This meant that the Plessy decision had given permission for the coming up of distinct public schools for the two races was something that promoted racial segregation within the education system. The Plessy decision had also highlighted the fact

It must however be noted there would have not been a difference even if the case had been decided on the rounds of a majority opinion[11]. However, the reason as to why the Justices had to advocate for a unanimous decision was because of the fact any dissenting opinion would have resulted in counter-arguments by those who were in support of the segregation aspect. They would have therefore used the dissenting opinion to legitimize their claims and would have jeopardized the efforts that were being made to delegitimize the segregation aspect within the education system. A unanimous decision would have been the best as far as any counterclaim is concerned and would have given the supporters no loophole to counter argue the decision[12]. Before the unanimous decision was made, it was reported that Justices had been seriously divided over whether segregation was beneficial to both races or not. Justice Black, Minton, Burton, Douglas, Tom, Felix and Robert all were determined to overturn Pessy’s Decision. On the other hand, Fred argued that the Congress had not issued any legislation prohibiting segregation and it was therefore difficult to do so[13]. Stanley in his argument stated clearly that the separation in the education department was beneficial to the Black-Americans and therefore there was no need for prohibiting racial segregation in the

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Kluger, Richard. Simple justice: The history of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's struggle for equality. Vintage, 2011.

Kurland, Philip B. "Brown v. Board of Education was the Beginning: School Desegregation Cases in the United States Supreme Court: 1954-1979." Wash. ULQ (1979): 309.

Martin, Waldo E., ed. Brown v. Board of Education: A brief history with documents. Vol. 1. Macmillan, 1998.

Patterson, James T., and William W. Freehling. Brown v. Board of Education: A civil rights milestone and its troubled legacy. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Segal, Jeffrey A., and Harold J. Spaeth. "The influence of stare decisis on the votes of United States Supreme Court justices." American Journal of Political Science (1996): 971-1003.

Warren, Chief Justice Earl. "Brown v. board of education." United States Reports 347.1954 (1954): 483.

Wasby, Stephen L., Anthony A. d'Amato, and Rosemary Metrailer. Desegregation from Brown to Alexander: An Exploration of Supreme Court Strategies. Southern Illinois University,