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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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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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