PLESSY VS.
FERGUSON ISSUE
(163 US 537 1896)
EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE
FACTS
1. Petitioner Homer Plessy, an man of mixed race tried to
occupy a seat in an all-white railroad car. Plessy refused to sit
in the colored railway carriage car and was arrested for
violating an 1890 Louisiana Law that separated railroad cars
based on the race of those riding, while equally providing
transportation. People who rode on a railcar not designated for
their race were criminally liable under the law.
2. At the trial with respondent Justice John Ferguson, Plessy
was found guilty of the crime he was charged with. Ferguson
argued that the law was a reasonable exercise of police power.
Plessy filed a petition for certiorari, saying that the separation
of people based on their ethnicity or race violated the equal
protection clause of the constitution under the fourteenth
amendment.
WON the law separating the passengers into separate rail cars
based on race is constitutional
HELD
YES. (Later overturned by Brown vs. Board of Education.)
The US Supreme court in this case said that the 14 th
amendment was made to enforce the absolute equality of two
races in the eyes of the law. Laws that permit or require the
separation of two races are not implying the inferiority of any
particular race. Rather, they are made to protect the rights of
the many different races, so that they are given special
protection as an identified race. It is also a valid exercise of
police power and legislative power to create a law which
separates races.
Petiton is DENIED