Important Supreme Court Civil Rights Decisions

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Important Supreme Court Civil Rights Decisions
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Dred Scott v Sanford 1857

• This court case was significant in that it
  outraged northern abolitionists and was a
  catalyst for the election of Abraham Lincoln and,
  in part, led to the Civil War.
• Dred Scott was a slave who had lived in both
  slave states and free states. He claimed that he
  should have his freedom because he had at one
  time lived in a free state.

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Dred Scott v Sanford 1857

• The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were a form
  of property and had no rights, as do U.S.
  citizens, whether they lived in slave or free
  states.
• Additionally, the Supreme Court nullified the
  Missouri Compromise which would have prevented
  certain states from admission as slave states.

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Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

• In 1890, Louisiana passed a law requiring blacks
  to ride in separate railroad cars.
• Homer Plessy, a seven-eighths Caucasian, was
  chosen to test the constitutionality of the law.
• On June 7, 1892, Plessy boarded a train, sat in
  a car reserved for whites, refused to move, and
  was arrested.
• The local judge ruled against Plessy.

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Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

• The Supreme Court upheld the lower courts
  decision stating that separate but equal
  accommodations for blacks on railroad cars did
  not violate the equal protection under the laws
  clause of the 14th Amendment. This decision
  opened the door to de jure segregation.

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McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents 1950

• The plaintiff was admitted to the Graduate
  School of the University of Oklahoma, but was
  forced to sit in segregated areas of the
  classroom, the library, and the cafeteria.

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McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents 1950

• The court held that these restrictions violated
  McLaurins constitutional rights because they
  interfered with his ability to study, to engage
  in discussions, and exchange views with other
  students, and, in general, to learn his
  profession.

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Sweatt v. Painter 1950

• The plaintiff, Hemen Marion Sweatt was denied
  admission to the University of Texas because he
  was black. Instead, he was offered admission to
  a newly established law school for blacks, which
  he declined.

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Sweatt v. Painter 1950

• Recently, the court had marked a shift in its
  decisions regarding the equal protection clause
  of the 14th Amendment and educational
  opportunities. In this case, the court held that
  the law school for blacks was not equal to the
  state law school and ordered the university to
  admit Sweatt.

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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954

• At the time, 17 states and the District of
  Columbia had segregated public schools.
• During the 1952-1953 Supreme Court term, five
  cases, including Brown, challenged the doctrine
  of separate but equal that existed in public
  elementary and high schools.

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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954

• The newly appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren,
  whos persuasive skills are now legendary,
  convinced the other Justices to join in a
  unanimous decision in holding that segregation in
  public schools was unconstitutional.
• The holding further allowed that segregated
  schools not only impaired educational
  opportunities but it stamped black children as
  inferior.
• This decision led to the desegregation of public
  schools.

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Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
1978

• The case involved the University of California,
  Davis, Medical School and Allan Bakke, a white
  applicant who had been rejected twice.
• There were minority applicants admitted at the
  same time with significantly lower scores than
  his.

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Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
1978

• A closely divided court ruled that race was a
  legitimate factor in school admissions.
• The use of rigid quotas, however, was
  unconstitutional.

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Grutter v. Bollinger 2003Gratz v. Bollinger 2003

• In Grutter, the court upheld the University of
  Michigan Law Schools consideration of race and
  ethnicity in the admissions process.
• Justice OConnor wrote in the majority opinion
  that race was not used in a mechanical way but
  rather, race and ethnicity were applied in a
  highly individualized, holistic review of each
  applicants file.
• In Gratz, however, the court ruled that U of Ms
  undergraduate admissions system, which awards 20
  points to black, Hispanic, and Native American
  applicants, is nonindividualized, mechanical,
  and thus, unconstitutional.