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Three Supreme Court Cases In The Civil Rights Movement

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The world we live in today would not be how it is if we didn't go through these three court cases. These court cases were about slavery and black rights, things we take for granted in today's society. Three different Supreme Court Cases influenced the Civil Rights Movement by declaring that under the Constitution, Dred Scott was his master's property, Segregation is universally recognized as within the competency of states in the exercise of their police powers, and Judicial enforcement of a racially restrictive property covenant is a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This first case is about Dred Scott, he had lived as a slave with his wife for a few years and then went into a free state as a slave. They sued their owner for their freedom, the odds weren't against them, many had won their freedom like this before. This case would've gone down like those but the judges ruled, "Slaves were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the Federal Government or the courts" (Dred Scott vs. Sanford). …show more content…

He was 3/4 white, but not white enough. There was a struggle with the conductor and the case went to court. He ended up losing the case after congress made this statement: "If the rights of both races are equal, one cannot be better than the other. If one race is better than the other, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane"(Plessy vs.

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In 1857 the Dred Scott case was pulled into the supreme court. Dred Scott was claiming that even though he was a slave, He had been in a free country long enough to be a free citizen for the United States. The Supreme court ruled that blacks, with ancestors that were imported to become slaves weren’t aren’t able to become free american citizens. Therefore they weren’t able to appeal to a jury or able to to sue in federal court.

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Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2, 1908. In 1930 he states for to the University of Maryland Law School but was denied because of him being black. However years later when he applied to Howard University when he graduated, he opens up a small law practice in Baltimore. Marshall won the first Major case in civil rights was due to the precedent of Plessy v Ferguson where it states racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal", where he sued University of Maryland Law School to admit a young African American named Donald Gaines Murray. With his well-known skills as a lawyer and his passion for the civil rights Marshall because the chief of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,

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In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1957, a black man named Dred Scott who at the time was living in Illinois and previously in free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave state of Missouri, had gone against the government and appealed to the Supreme Court hoping he would get the grant of freedom. Scott attempted to sue the the Missouri courts for his freedom, but ultimately failed in the end. He was claiming that his residence in a freed territory made him a free man, but the courts resided. Eventually, Scott brought this case to the Supreme Court which caused a big dispute between the people in America about the

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Within the United States supreme court, seven out of the nine judges either supported slavery or had owned slaves previously, so Dred Scott was entering a biased and unfair trial to begin with. On March 6, 1857, The decision for the Dred Scott v. Sanford case was heard by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who stated that slaves were not citizens of the United States, and "... They had no rights which the white man was bound to respect". ( Cite Source) He also explained how Scott was never free when he lived in the free territories and that congress was prohibited to have any ruling over slavery, which made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional .

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There have been many famous court trials throughout history. The Dred Scott v. Stanford Court Case of 1857, also known as the “Dred scott case”, was one of these historic court trials. This court case led to the United states supreme Court decision on the US labor law and constitutional law. It revolved around the matter of Negroes whose ancestors that were imported into the United States, and were put into slavery. The Supreme ruled that whether enslaved or free, Blacks could not be an American citizen, could not sue in federal court, and the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired.

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In 1857, an African American man named Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the Supreme Court. His owners brought him along on their trips across free states. Dred Scott failed in suing before his case was presented in the Supreme Court. Roger B. Taney was the fifth chief Justice of the United States when he wrote the Dred Scott vs Sandford decision. The Dred Scott vs Sandford case ended with the decision that African Americans, free and enslaved, had no rights and could not become citizens because they were property.

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Further, the judge revoked the law stating that frontier and other free territories would no longer be free and that black people would no longer have the right to appear in court. The judge also made it a law in the Dred Scott decision that, “no black person could be a citizen of the United States”. (Foner, p. 57). The outcome of the supreme court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford showed how completely the justice system failed and hindered the rights of African Americans. This controversial case was an obvious example of how freedom didn’t change for African Americans.

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(Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sanford) This case involved Dred Scott, Harriet Scott, and Stanford. The outcome of the case was that Scott was free but not necessarily a United States citizen. After the ruling the decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendment. These amendments abolished slavery and said that everyone born in the unit states was automatically a United States citizen.

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In Shelley v. Kraemer. These intense court cases supported the civil rights movement by inspiring people to stand up for their rights. First is Brown v. Board of education which a court case in which colored people were fighting to have equality in schools and have equal educational programs. Black and white kids were separated too much and were not treated equally in schools by teachers, students, parents, any of their peers. Equality is a natural right that every person deserves no matter the color of their skin.

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The Dred Scott decision showed Americans that colored people are just things you own and not people at all. This helps slavery, which at the time was a very big thing in the south. Slave owners now can own and keep their slaves because now they can’t run away no matter what. Even if people are “free” and go to a “slave free” state, they can still be arrested and sent back to their slave owners. This was a huge win for slave owners and a loss for the north as they wanted more people for jobs.

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This decision was made eleven years after the initial trail began. The decision was concluded that slaves were not citizens of the United States and therefore had no right to sue in Federal courts. This was only the second time in history that the Supreme Court ruled the Act of Congress to be unconstitutional in the decision of Dred Scott. After the trial, Republicans went crazy to form anti-slavery in the North and it caused uproar throughout the slave and the abolitionist communities in the United States. It would not be until the 1960’s until the blacks finally get the rights they had been longing for since the beginning of this racial contest.

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territories. The court believed what the slaveholders did was constitutional because slaves were known to be property. Slaveholders were protected by the 5th amendment (McBride). Slavery was acceptable in the south because there were no laws for slavery in the south. Chief Justice Roger Brook Taney believed that African Americans had “no rights which any white man was bound to respect” (Dred Scott v. Sandford Rules on Citizenship of African Americans).

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Thus, the decision prevented free blacks from advancing in society. The constitution did not apply to them, which consequently developed a lot of confusion and created problems the future free blacks and slaves in the United States. Last of all, even though free blacks were considered as free men, the court failed to recognize them as citizens. This meant that free blacks still did not receive the rights they deserved. The Dred Scott decision was to define the free black’s status and define what rights they did and did not have, since the constitution did not apply to them.

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When the government becomes corrupt and our inalienable rights are in danger who do Americans run to angered about those actions and to make sure that they don’t happen again? The government. Sometimes the government acts independently in this protective role. One example of this is when federal authorities intervened in the 1960s when some states were violating the civil rights and voting rights of African Americans. It is ironic that the people who use one part of the government – usually the courts – to stop another part of the government from violating their freedoms and rights.

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The impact in this cases that effected civil rights was that this case "moved the nation a step closer to the civil war"(Dred Scott vs

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