Exposé type droit américain

. At that time, 17 states required racial segregation in the public schools and four more allowed it.

government policies may allow or require racial segregation in public schools.

In 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously strikes down segregation in public schools, sparking the Civil Rights movement.

This case deals with the notion of equality under the 14th amendment regarding education It  is primordial as it marked a legal turning point for the American civil-rights movement, as it challenges the doctrine of “separate but equal” instituted in the Case Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, and overrules the decision.

However, let’s start from the beginning. This situation allowing educational discrimination on the ground of color basis was first declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in 1849 in the case Roberts v. City of Boston. Judges rules that segregated schools are permissible under the state's constitution.

 However, at the time, slavery was still effective. Black citizens had to wait 1865 for the abolision of slavery, and 1868 fro the ratification of the 14th amendment extending citizenship to African Americans.

Thereafter, sous l’impulsion du gouvernement, union measures such as the Confiscation Acts and Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 were enacted.

Still, En parallèle, Jim Crow Laws were established between 1874 and 1975 in theory to separate the white and black races in the American South, which was known to be very racist, but in practice Jim Crow Laws condemned black citizens to inferior treatment and facilities.

Dans cette lignée, the Supreme Court rules one of the “worst decision of the US supreme court history according to people. Effectively, the court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, in the case Plessy v Ferguson. However, it appears, that judges used a “legal justification douteuse” based on the notions of white superiority and black inferiority, which are totally subjective.

Following this  judgment, The doctrine “separate but equal” itself wasn’t challenged for the 60 following years for many reasons. First, in 1940 30% of Americans — 40% of Northerners and 2% of Southerners — believe that Whites and Blacks should attend the same schools. Moreover, judges did not seem to want changes as they did’t contest the constitutionality of the doctrine, even though Judges admitted that segregated law schools could not provide them equal educational opportunities in the case Sweatt v painter. They solely ordered the admission of studients in the white school.

Rulling: In 1954, the case Brown vs Board of education decalred unconstitutionnal the doctrine « separate but equal », under the scope of the 14th amendment and finalised the consolidation of cases arising in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington D.C. relating to the segregation of public schools on the basis of race.  

However judges have finnaly decided to consider public education in the liht of its full development and its present place in American life throughout.  

The Court concluded that, even if the tangible facilities were equal between the black and white schools, racial segregation in schools is "inherently unequal" and is thus always unconstitutional. At least in the context of public schools, Plessy v. Ferguson was overruled.

The district court found substantial equality as to all such factors. The Kansas case was as there was no contention of gross inferiority of the segregated schools' physical plant, curriculum, or staff.

((((Effectively  In the early 1950s, NAACP lawyers brought class action lawsuits on behalf of black schoolchildren and their families seeking court orders to compel school districts to let black students attend white public schools. ))))

Consequences:  

In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court didn’t specify exactly how to end school segregation, but rather asked to hear further arguments on the issue. The Court’s timidity, combined with steadfast local resistance, meant that the bold ruling did little on the community level to achieve the goal of desegregation.

Although this case set the legal precedent that would be used to overturn laws enforcing segregation in other public facilities, the ruling did little on the community level to achieve the goal of desegregation, mainly because  in its landmark ruling, judges didn’t specify exactly how to end school segregation. Necessarily, its effects remained very limited immediately after the ruling.

As a result, The Court ruled in 1955 Brown II. Judges declared that in implementing the first Brown decision, desegregation is to proceed with “all deliberate speed,” and each local school district can set its own timetable.

In 1956, 82 representatives and 19 senators endorsed a so-called “Southern Manifesto” in Congress, urging Southerners to use all “lawful means” at their disposal to resist the “chaos and confusion” that school desegregation would cause. In Cooper v. Aaron, the Supreme Court reaffirms its commitment to Brown, saying states are required to comply with its rulings and court orders based on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution

In 1964, a full decade after the decision, more than 98 percent of black children in the South still attended segregated schools, which demonstrates the difficulty to faire accepyer à la société, and relativise its social impact. In 1976, the Supreme Court issued another landmark decision in Runyon v. McCrary, ruling that even private, nonsectarian schools that denied admission to students on the basis of race violated federal civil rights laws.

By overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine, the Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education had set the legal precedent that would be used to overturn laws enforcing segregation in other public facilities. But despite its undoubted impact, the historic verdict fell short of achieving its primary mission of integrating the nation’s public schools.

Today, more than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the debate continues over how to combat racial inequalities in the nation’s school system, largely based on residential patterns and differences in resources between schools in wealthier and economically disadvantaged districts across the country.

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