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Landmark Decisions
A CENTURY OF CHANGE (1856-1955)
Supreme Error
In 1856, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Scott v.
Sandford. That case involved Dred Scott, a slave, who sued in federal
court for his and his family's freedom. Scott contended, in part, that his
family became free when they were taken into the free portion of the
Louisiana territory where Congress had prohibited slavery.
The Supreme Court dismissed the suit on jurisdictional grounds. Chief
Justice Taney explained that the parties were not citizens of different states because the
Constitution did not consider blacks to be citizens. The Chief Justice also
added that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery and
involuntary servitude in certain parts of the Louisiana Territory, violated
the Fifth Amendment because it deprived slaveowners of their property
without the due process of law.
The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) finally set aside this decision.
Free at Last
The Union triumph sparked a brief expansion in civil rights. The three amendments
added to the Constitution during this time abolished slavery in the United States once and
for all, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
prohibited States from denying persons the equal protection of the laws and the right to
vote on account of race.
Civil War Amendments
13th Amendment (1865).
14th Amendment (1868).
15th Amendment (1870).
An Early Triumph
In 1879, the Supreme Court handed down a pair of decisions that offered some hope. In
Strauder v. West Virginia and Ex Parte Virginia, the Court held that states violated the
14th Amendment when they excluded persons from serving on juries on account of their
race.
From Slavery to Segregation
In 1883, the Supreme Court, once again, obstructed the path to equality. In the Civil
Rights Cases, the Court struck down those provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1875
which entitled all persons to the full and equal enjoyment of public
accomodations. The Court ruled that Congress did not have the
authority under the 14th Amendment to enact such a law, explaining
that the 14th Amendment was intended to right wrongful acts by states,
not private individuals. Justice Harlan was the lone dissenter.
A decade later, the Supreme Court took another step backwards. In Plessy v. Ferguson,
the Court found that a Louisiana statute requiring separate intrastate railcars for the white
and colored races neither abridged the privileges or immunities of the colored man, nor
deprived him of the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment. This
decision legitimized the segregation of American society under the "Separate but Equal"
doctrine.
Justice Harlan, again the lone dissenter, argued that the Constitution was color-blind. He
regretted the Court's conclusion that states may regulate the enjoyment by citizens of
their civil rights based solely on race. He also predicted, "In my opinion, the judgment
this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by
this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case."
Separate But Not Equal
In 1938, the Supreme Court faced another challenge to a state's segregation law when
Lloyd Gaines, a black student, sought admission to the white-only State University of
Missouri Law School. Pending development of a black-only law school, state law
provided that the university could pay for black students to attend school in a neighboring
state.
Although the Court affirmed the Plessy decision, it found Missouri's separate out-of-state
facilities to not be equal. Chief Justice Hughes explained that the law permitted white law
students to attend school in-state, but compelled black law students to seek education outof-state.
Leading Man
Thurgood Marshall played a key role in the civil rights movement long before he was
appointed to the US Supreme Court.
As Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) Legal Defense and Education Fund, Marshall coordinated the NAACP effort
to end racial segregation.
His Supreme Court victories include Smith v. Allwright, Morgan v. Virginia, Shelley v.
Kraemer, Sweatt v. Painter, McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents and, of course, Brown
v. Board of Education.
Beyond Bricks and Mortar
A decade later, the Supreme Court reviewed two more challenges to segregated graduate
education programs.
In Sweatt v. Painter, the Court struck down a Texas statute which restricted the
University of Texas Law School to white students, even though, the state made available
an in-state law school for black students. That same day, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State
Regents, the Court also struck down an Oklahoma statute which permitted black students
to use the same classroom, library and cafeteria as white students, but required the black
students to sit in designated areas reserved for colored people within those facilities.
In both decisions, Chief Justice Vinson noted importance of student
interaction to the educational experience. Because both statutes limited
the opportunities of black students to study, engage in discussions, and
exchange views with white students, the Court found that the black
students were not offered a substantially equal educational opportunity.
While the Court declined to re-examine the Plessy decision, their rulings
cast serious doubt on the continuing viability of the "separate but equal"
doctrine. More importantly, these decisions were issued without dissent.
Other Triumphs
In 1946, the Supreme Court heard a challenge to a Virginia law that required all
passenger motor vehicle carriers to separate their white and colored passengers.
Finding that the promotion and protection of national travel required a single, uniform
rule for the seating of different races in interstate motor travel, the Court struck down the
state law because it placed an undue burden on interstate commerce, an area of regulation
that the Constitution reserved for Congress. The Court did not mention the Plessy
decision.
Two years later, the wall of segregation crumbled further. In Shelley v.
Kramer, the Shelleys, a black family, purchased a home that was
subject to a racially restrictive covenant. This covenant barred persons
of African and Asian descent from occupying the property. A neighbor
sued to enforce the covenant against the Shelleys.
The Supreme Court ruled that racially restrictive agreements alone are
not unconstitutional because there has been no discriminatory state
action. However, state action will be found if a court orders the
enforcement of such an agreement. Under the Equal Protection Clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment, such a court order is unconstitutional.
These two decisions opened the nation's highways and homes to a race once enslaved.
Within a decade, the high court would further repel the forces of segregation in Brown v.
Board of Education, another landmark decision.
Inherently Unequal
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision on
segregation in public elementary schools. That case, which consolidated a number of
matters on appeal from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware, was titled Brown
v. Board of Education.
Like in Sweatt and McLaurin, the Court here considered criteria beyond the physical
facilities and other tangible assets of black and white schools. So, even if the black
schools and white schools had substantially equal buildings, curricula, classroom
materials, teacher qualifications and salaries, the separate schools still possibly did not
offer equal educational opportunities.
Turning to the effect of segregation on school children, the Court noted that to separate
black children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race
generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their
hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.
This sense of inferiority affects their motivation to learn
and, thus, has a tendency to retard their educational and
mental development and to deprive them of some of the
benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school
system. The Court then held that segregation in public
schools was unconstitutional and rejected any language in
Plessy that ran contrary to this.
In the field of public
education the doctrine of
"separate but equal" has no
place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently
unequal.
So, in this century of change, people once enslaved were
unshackled and set free. People once isolated were
integrated into society. People once looked down upon
returned to lead. And, these leaders guided not just themselves but the entire nation to a
better place. A place where people have never been freer. A place where justice has never
been fairer. And, a place where the promise of America has never been finer.