Role of Courts in Civil Rights - AP US Government

The Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the previous Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The original case, Plessy v. Ferguson, established that black and white people could constitutionally be separated in public places if their separate circumstances were found to be equal (“separate but equal”). Brown v. Board of Education overturned this ruling, finding that separate was inherently not equal and thus in violation of the Constitution. Specifically, Brown v. Board of Education determined that white and black students could not be forced to attend separate schools.

The Supreme Court case of Reynolds v. United States (1879) was centered around Reynolds practicing of polygamy (something he argued was protected by his right to religious freedom as a Mormon). The Supreme Court ruled such practice was in violation of criminal law and thus not protected by the right to freedom of religion.

Brown vs. Board of Education was a 1954 Supreme Court case that dealt with the school segregation that had been the norm since Plessy vs. Ferguson declared that segregation is permitted so long as the facilities and resources are “separate but equal.” There were a variety of lawsuits filed about segregation, including one where an African American sued the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education on the basis that the schools for non-white children were not equal. The Court decided that this case would be the primary one for school segregation and unanimously ruled that school segregation based on race is illegal under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. While this ruling did not immediately integrate schools, it was used as the basis for getting rid of segregation and is regarded as one of, if not the, most important rulings of the century.