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Equal Protection Clause Of The 14th Amendment Essay

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The Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment in the US Constitution has been one that’s been up for interpretation for a long time. The clause states that all people (regardless of race) should be treated the same under the law. It’s a controversial clause that has been involved in many Supreme court cases, including Brown vs Board of Education, Plessy vs Ferguson, and the Regents of the University of California vs Bakke. These are the three cases that will be addressed in this essay. The Supreme court decision of the University of California vs Bakke case to uphold affirmative action and rule the use of racial quotas unconstitutional was the correct decision based on previous Supreme Court cases, including Plessy v Ferguson and …show more content…

In 1892, Homer Plessy was riding on a train in Louisiana. He sat down in the car reserved for white passengers and refused to move when asked by the conductor. He was arrested and went to court, where he was convicted based on the 1890 Louisiana law stating that railway segregation was legal as long as both cars were equal. He appealed to the state supreme court, who affirmed the decision of the trial court, and it was brought to the Supreme Court. They ruled in an overwhelming 7-1 decision that as long as the cars were equal, segregation was legal. The Supreme Court decision was incorrect and should have been decided differently. In general, the separate but equal doctrine was completely constitutional. There was nothing in the constitution that said it was wrong and the Louisiana law confirmed that. However, in that specific situation, the doctrine was misused. The train cars were separated, but they were not equal. The quality of the train car for colored passengers was significantly lower than the car for white passengers. This violates both the law and the doctrine, so for this reason, the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v Ferguson was

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Case Brief - Plessy v. Ferguson Homer A. Plessy v. John H. Ferguson was a US Supreme Court case between Homer Plessy, the plaintiff, and John Ferguson, the defendant. The year this case took was place was 18961. This case almost entirely deals with the Louisiana Law passed six years prior that provided “equal but separate” railway carriages for white and colored races. The constitutionality of this law was brought into this case as Homer Plessy, who refused to sit in the colored only rail car, argued it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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The petitioner of the case was Homer Plessy, and the respondent of the case was John H. Ferguson. The hearing began on April 13th, 1896, and came to a conclusion on May 18th, 1896. This case was one of the beginning cases for Separate but Equal, and is still remembered to this day. This case all started when Plessy, who was seven eighths white, sat down in the “white” train car and was asked to leave and sit in the “colored” train car.

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The judge for this case was John Howard Ferguson. He found Plessy guilty for refusing to leave the white car. Plessy then appealed to the Supreme Court. They to found him guilty. The Plessy decision set that “separate” facilities for blacks were constitutional as long as they were “equal”.

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Decided in 1896, the Plessy v Ferguson law was a landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court. This case upheld state segregation laws for public places under the belief of the slogan “separate but equal.” It all began when Homer Plessy purchased a first class ticket to travel from New Orleans to Covington, La, taking a vacant seat in a white only car. This was ironic because he was seven eighths percent white and one out of eight percent black. He was arrested for breaking the law of 1890 stating that colored and whites have to sit in separate car’s riding a train due to the slogan separate but equal; emphasizing that everyone has the right to ride a train as long as they sit different cars (McBride, 2007).

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Plessy v. Ferguson/Background In 1891 a group of people in New Orleans formed the Citizens’ Committee to test the constitutionality of the Separate Car Law. Homer Adolph Plessy, agreed to be the plaintiff in the case, aimed at testing the law’s constitutionality. On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a ticket on a train and took a seat in a whites-only car. When he was told he had to sit in the car for blacks, he refused.

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Ronion Brown Professor Ferrara ENG 102 20 April 2018 The Foundation of Ruby Bridges The Supreme Court decision in 1896 of Plessy v. Ferguson strengthened the constitutionality of segregation laws in the United States. The law did not change for over fifty years until the Supreme Court finally recognized the inequality inherent in "separate but equal" legislation in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. Homer Plessy was African American man who boarded a car for white Americans only of East Louisiana Railway Train.

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Plessy v. Ferguson The Supreme Court of Plessy v. Ferguson, argued on April 13, 1896, involved a man identified as Homer Adolph Plessy. Plessy was a man of seven - eighths Caucasian and one - eighths of African descent in the State of Louisiana who was denied to sit in a passenger train car reserved for “whites only.” The case questioned the Supreme Court whether Louisiana’s law mandating racial segregation infringes the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

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The White cars were nicer and cleaner than the Black cars. Judge John Howard Ferguson had recently ruled the law “unconstitutional on trains that traveled through many states,” but in this case, Judge Ferguson ruled that Plessy was guilty because the state had the right to regulate railroad companies that run only in the state. Mr. Plessy then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of Louisiana which also went against him, saying the separate but equal law was constitutional. Plessy finally appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, because he still believed that the “separate but equal” law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, because it did not treat Blacks and Whites equally. However, in 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Homer Plessy was guilty.

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In the 1890s, Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act where there had to be different railway cars for white and African Americans. At the time the “separate but equal” doctrine was used to make the racial segregation laws constitutional. Homer Adolph Plessy who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African Americans, was considered to be African American under Louisiana laws. In 1892, Plessy sat in the railway car for whites only and when asked to move to the railway car for Africans Americans, he refused.

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Ferguson case was passed in 1896. “This decision approved segregation of the races as being consistent with the 14th amendment and formulated the doctrine of "separate but equal" facilities. It served as a legal basis for segregation in education. The case arose when one Homer A. Plessy, who was 7/8ths caucasian and 1/8th negro, was arrested for entering a railroad coach reserved for whites and refusing to sit in a segregated couch for negroes. The court, speaking through Justice Henry B Brown, found that these "separate but equal accommodations" satisfied the demands of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

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Ferguson was a case of the Supreme Court in 1892 after passenger Homer Plessy traveled on the Louisiana railroad and refused to sit in a car for blacks only. Homer Plessy was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson to a Criminal Court in New Orleans to be trailed for refusing to follow the state law of Louisiana “separate but equal.” Such conflict challenged the violation of the 13th and 14th amendment where they ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. They stated, “Separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal.” “In the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either.”

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On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy vs. Ferguson law case that separate-but-equal facilities on trains were constitutional.” It is deplorable that such laws were created by Southern Republics to ensure that African Americans would maintain to be treated inferior to them. This includes making segregation a law. Blacks and whites could no longer dine together, sit on the bus together, get an education together,

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Although Plessy had the appearance of white man, he was required by law to sit in the blacks-only carriage. However, Plessy refused to move to a blacks-only carriage and argued that this segregation law stigmatized blacks "with a badge of inferiority” and that it violated his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment (McBride). The Fourteenth Amendment forbids the state from denying “…any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (McBride) However, the Supreme Court argued in this case that the Fourteenth Amendment meant equality in political and civil rights and not social rights (McBride).

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

In 1892, an African American men called Homer Plessy sited at the White-only train section and refused to go sit at the Black-only train section. Because Plessy violate the rules of segregation, he was arrested. In the court, Plessy defended himself by stating that to force him to be segregated violates the Thirteens and Fourteens Amendments which gives him the equal protection by the laws. His case then made it all the way up to Supreme Court of United States. However, in judging this case, most of the judges believes that it should be rules against Plessy because the segregation does not violate the Thirteens Amendments.

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Keeping African Americans segregated and not treating their condition’s equal led to a even more discrimination resulting in a lack of rights. In the 1896, Plessey vs Ferguson case, the Supreme Court stated that all facilities could be segregated, but they had to be equal. “Requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that state to provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and [African Americans] races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train.” (Document F). This quote shows that the train compartments were required to be kept separate but equal.

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