Case Study On Brown Vs Board Of Education

Brown vs. Board of Education This court case was about segregation. The appellants were Oliver Brown, Mrs. Richard Lawton, Mrs. Sadie Emmanuel, etc. The appellee was the Board of Education. It was argued on December 9-11, 1952 and then reargued on December 7-9, 1953. The case was finally decided on May 17, 1954 by the Warren Court (1953-54). In the 1950s, Linda Brown and her sister Terry Lynn, both studying in the Kansas school district had to walk through a railroad to get to a bus that went to an all-black school. There was a white school near their house, but the Board of Education denied her access to the school because of the color of her skin. At the time, many public areas were segregated. The case Plessy vs. Ferguson allowed this

The Board of Education wanted segregated elementary schools. Other schools were non segregated. The appellants felt that the Board violated the rights given by the Constitution. They sued the board saying that the system didn’t give Linda Brown the equal protection of the rights given by the fourteenth amendment. The decision was unanimous in favor of Brown. The Court found that segregation was unconstitutional. The justices found that it would be very hard to succeed in life without a proper education. So they wanted to give Blacks a public education like the whites. Seeing that the facilities between blacks and whites were equal, the Court had to see the “more subtle, intangible effect of segregation on the system of public

As we all know, almost 100% percent of the time, if you don’t have a lawyer, you are going to lose. So, the Court charged Gideon of breaking and entering a room with pool tables in it so that Gideon could commit a misdemeanor. Under Florida’s law, this was considered felony. He was sentenced to 5 years of prison. When he was in prison, Gideon filed a petition that said the Florida State Court had violated his rights in the Bill of Rights as well as his Constitutional rights. So, basically the big issue here is if the sixth amendment’s requirement that poor accused people have the right to a lawyer is extremely important and essential to a fair trial that is stated in the Fourteenth Amendment. The discussion engaged into a talk about how all the other amendments were important to the U.S. and the 6th and 14th should not be left out. Justice Tom Clark clearly restated and explained his opinion about the sixth and the 14th amendment and how every defendant that cannot afford an attorney, the Court should provide you one. The ruling was unanimous in favor of Gideon in a 9-0 vote. After the decision was made, Gideon was appointed a lawyer and was free from all