The Pros And Cons Of The Equal Protection Clause

There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.

The Equal rights Amendment was proposed to set equality for every citizen no matter the sex. The amendment has three sections. The first one states “equality of rights under the law should not be denied by the U.S on the account of one's sex.” Section two says that “congress has the power to enforce this law.” Last but not least, section three says the amendment will take effect two years after ratification.

Plessy v. Ferguson , a very important case of 1896 in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the legality of racial segregation. At the time of the ruling, segregation between blacks and whites already existed in most schools, restaurants, and other public facilities in the American South. In the Plessy decision, the Supreme Court ruled that such segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. This amendment provides equal protection of the law to all U.S. citizens, regardless of race. The court ruled in Plessy that racial segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities for blacks and whites were “equal.”

The case “Plessy v. Ferguson” was a test of a Louisiana law’s constitutionality. It took 50 years to realize it, but the constitutionally and morally right way was to end segregation. This case was never about Plessy not being able to ride on a white only car on a train headed to Covington, Louisiana. It was about a group of black citizens trying to stop segregation from ever

However, those that favor judicial restraint on the other hand, and thus favor the status quo and the strict construction of the Constitution are conservatives and Republicans. Two landmark Supreme Court decisions that strictly interpreted the Constitution for its literal meaning were Dred Scott v. Sanford and Plessy v. Ferguson. In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans did not have the right to sue for their freedom, since they were seen strictly by the law as property and not even citizens of the United States. As well, in Plessy v. Ferguson the Court ruled that segregation of public schools was not unconstitutional, even though African Americans were still seen as equal citizens due to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution ("separate but equal"). However, this particular case was then overturned by Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas in 1954. The Brown decision, unlike that of Plessy v. Fergusion and Dred Scott v. Sanford expressed judicial activism and ruled racial segregation unconstitutional.

African Americans were never treated the same as other Americans. One day a black man who looked white named Homer Plessy got sick of sitting in a Jim Crow car so he decided to purchase a first class ticket in the white’s only section on the train. Plessy told the conductor that he was 1/8 black and he refused to move from the car. Removed from the train Plessy was in jail overnight and was released on a 500 dollar bond. Homer Plessy protested that his 13th and his 14th amendments rights were violated. This case became known as Plessy v. Ferguson. This case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Furthermore, there was a young girl named Linda Brown who attended a school very far away from her house. On the other hand, there is a school not to far from her ,but it’s an all white school. So Linda Brown and her family took it to court saying that blacks not being able to go to any school is a violation of the 14th amendment. The lower courts shut them down so they appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The dissenting opinion was "We conclude that the doctrine of 'separate but equal ' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." —Chief Justice Earl Warren. This was the precedent that was established and the final decision.The majority opinion was “The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson has no place in the field of public education.(Find Law)”.Which means that they are saying that since the last case happened on a rail car and not public education it shouldn’t have

In 1892, Homer Plessy sought a seat in a “white” train car. Plessy was only 1/8 black, and appeared to be a Caucasian man. Even after being belittled and threatened, Plessy refused to transfer to a “colored” car. Violating the Separate Car Act, Plessy was arrested. He stated that this act violated his 13th and 14th amendment constitutional rights. His statements entailed that the act stripped away his 13th amendment right opposing slavery and his 14th amendment right for equal protection under the law. These arguments were revoked twice in lower courts until he decided he would take his plea to the Louisiana Supreme Court. (pbs.org)

In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally legal to segregate African Americans with their white counterparts. In the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson an African American man in Louisiana named Homer Plessy refused to follow the mandated Jim Crow laws which enforced that African Americans have to sit in a designated area when riding on a train. Plessy argued that his fourteenth amendment right was violated equal-protection clause, which “prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person within their jurisdictions”(Duignan, 2016). However, when Plessy’s case moved to the Supreme Court they ruled“ the object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to create "absolute equality of the two races before the law," such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights (e.g., voting and serving on juries), not "social rights" (e.g., sitting in a railway car one chooses) (McBride, n.d. ). As a result, Plessy v. Ferguson

1) How did the majority opinion in the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision legally shape race

The Equal Rights Amendment began its earliest discussions in 1920. These discussions took place immediately after two-thirds of the states approved women's suffrage. The nineteenth century was intertwined with several feminist movements such as abortion, temperance, birth control and equality. Many lobbyists and political education groups formed in these times. One such organization is the Eagle Forum, who claims to lead the pro-family movement. On the opposite side of the coin is The National Organization for Women, or NOW, which takes action to better the position of women in society. Feminism is the most powerful force for change in our time. The Equal Rights Amendment has been a

In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;

To amend the constitution, various steps and procedures must be taken. When either Congress (which takes a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives), or a constitutional convention (which takes two-thirds of the State legislatures) want to propose an amendment, they give it to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Congress proposes the amendment as a joint resolution to the National Archives and Records Administrations Office of the Federal Register for the publication process. The Office of the Federal Register adds legislative notes to the joint resolution and publishes it in slip law format. The Office of the Federal Register also puts together an information package for the States

This case right here is one of the cases that helped to inquire the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment (Duignan par. ) Let’s get started, so in Louisiana there use to be a law called Separate Car Act were African Americans couldn’t sit in the coaches that were for the white and had to sit in these areas. “If this law was broken the penalty was either you received a fine or imprisonment”(Supreme Court Plessy V. Ferguson). According to the article/ website Plessy V. Ferguson Law case “Homer Plessy was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American.” Due to the fact that he was seven-eighths white when he bought his ticket he sat in the are assigned for white

Let's take a step back and look at the “Civil Rights act of 1875” which made it criminal to deny any individual of any race or color equal treatment(The Civil Rights Act of 1875). This act was a huge step for African Americans in becoming equal. Louisiana put in place a law that required separate rail cars for those of color and whites. Controversy then struck when Homer Adolph Plessy sat in the white only section of the rail car, when asked he then refuse to move to the car for blacks and was arrested Despite the fact that he half white and half black which gave him equal opportunity for either railcar. In this case which became known as the Plessy versus Ferguson case they ruled that the state law is within constitutional boundaries and did not violate the equality of the citizen. If Plessy was treated equally why was he not allowed to sit next to a white american if they were constitutionally equal. The hope that emerged from the civil rights act was then taken away. Congress shut down the Civil rights act claiming that the fourteenth amendment did not give congress any jurisdiction to prevent discrimination from private peoples. Keep in mind that the fourteenth amendment gave U.S. citizenship to any natural born or naturalized citizen, including free slaves (14th Amendment). Once congress shut down the