Supreme Court Case Brown vs.

¶ … Supreme Court case "Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 1954. Specifically, it will discuss the case, the Court's opinion, and what the case says for people today. Brown vs. The Board of Education was one of the most far-reaching and influential court cases in American history. It changed education in this country forever, and eliminated separate education based on race or religion. The case still reverberates in America today, and is still held up as a milestone in judicial and educational reform.

The justices on the Supreme Court who decided the Brown vs. Board of Education case were legendary in their own right, yet little is written about them personally, just their joint decision in this important case. They were a total of nine justices, including Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justices Hugo L. Black, Stanley F. Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Robert H. Jackson, Harold H. Burton, Tom C. Clark, and Sherman Minton. William O. Douglas went on to serve as Chief Justice in his own right, and each of the justices served lengthy terms, but most of them are remembered for this decision, which came to be one of the figurehead decisions in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

Originally, the case concerned Linda Brown, a young black girl who had to walk dozens of blocks out of her way to school because she was denied admission to a white school closer to her home. However, the case is named after Oliver Brown, the plaintiff named in the case was one of hundreds of plaintiffs in five cases lumped together under the "Brown" designation. These cases were all brought to the Supreme Court by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in the hopes of removing racial segregation in America's schools. The Brown case was first fought in Topeka Kansas, where the local school district operated eighteen elementary schools for white students, but only four for black students. The case was a class action suit, brought by the parents of 20 students who brought charges against the Topeka School Board after their black children were denied entrance to white schools. Oliver Brown was one of these parents, and Linda Brown was his daughter. The case went to the Supreme Court because a Kansas court judged the children had no right to integrated education, and the suit was appealed to the Supreme Court. Interestingly, while Topeka elementary schools were segregated, their junior and senior high schools were not (Marshall 19). Attorney Thurgood Marshall argued the case for the plaintiffs with a team of attorneys in the Supreme Court, and one of his arguments included the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. He noted, " the Fourteenth Amendment precludes a state from imposing distinctions or classifications based upon race and color alone. The State of Kansas has no power thereunder to use race as a factor in affording educational opportunities to its citizens" (Marshall 19).

The other four cases represented other states where the same kind of segregation was taking place, and the Court ruled on all of them together because they were all related, and the ruling would encompass all of them. The case was more than a simple discussion of civil rights. It helped bring together a cohesive national Civil Rights movement that would lead to more reforms and decisions in the 1960s. It also affirmed the rights of Americans set out in the Constitution, and "reaffirmed the sovereign power of the people of the United States in the protection of their natural rights from arbitrary limits and restrictions imposed by state and local governments" ("About the Case" 2004). The main arguments for segregation at the time were previous court decisions that allowed "separate but equal" education for different races. The Court decision said this "separate but equal" education was not only not equal, it was unconstitutional besides.

The Court's opinion on the case was unanimous, with all nine justices voting in favor of integrated educational opportunities for all Americans, regardless of their race, their creed, or their religious beliefs. There were no concurring opinions by any of the justices, only the Court's decision, written and read by the Chief Justice. Chief Justice Warren noted in the syllabus of the case,

Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms ("Opinion").

Thus, the Court ruled on a case that is still considered one of their landmark rulings - a case that helped change education, and the nation. Brown vs. Board of Education did not end segregation immediately. There were continued fights in local and national courts, but the Supreme Court held firm, and segregation eventually took place. It was interesting to note that all the justices voted the same way on the case. Chief Justice Warren worked with all the justices, and had to convince some that a unanimous vote was the best way to treat the issue. His arguments succeeded in swaying justices that might have been on the edge, and his arguments are apparent in the final decision, where the other justices did not even find the need to write concurring reports or rebuttals.