Brown v. Board of Education
Week 11 — Race — School Desegregation
Facts
- Black schoolchildren and their parents challenged the constitutionality of state-mandated racial segregation in public schools across several states.
- They argued that even where the segregated facilities were nominally equal, segregation itself denied equal protection.
Issue
Whether state-mandated racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even when the segregated facilities are otherwise equal.
Holding
Yes. "Separate but equal" violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Reasoning
- Segregation, even when it provides a truly equal opportunity, generates feelings of inferiority that can cause irreparable harm.
- Separating children solely based on race creates a sense of inferiority as to their status that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.
- In the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.
Notes
- Brown is the bedrock of strict scrutiny in the race context.
- Notably, the Court did not explicitly apply strict scrutiny—it is universally understood that strict scrutiny would apply under modern standards.
- Any modern constitutional stance or analysis that would implicitly invalidate Brown is wholly baseless.
- Brown effectively overruled Plessy v. Ferguson in the public-education context.