In this 1896 case the U. S.
Supreme Court ruled that
state laws requiring “equal
but separate” railway
accommodations for African
Americans and whites did not
violate either the U. S.
Constitution’s Thirteenth
Amendment’s prohibition of
slavery or the equal protection
of the laws clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Plessy v. Ferguson
A
Mendez v. Westminster
School District of Orange
County
A
A
In this 1947 case the U. S.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit ruled that the
segregation of Mexican
American children in some
public elementary schools in
California violated California
law since there was no state
law requiring such
segregation. The court did not
rule on the question of
whether such segregation
violated the equal protection
of the laws clause of the U. S.
Constitution’s Fourteenth
Amendment. The school
districts involved chose not to
appeal the decision to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
A
Delgado v. Bastrop
Independent School
District
A
In this 1948 case a judge of the
U. S. District Court for the
Western District of Texas ruled
that Texas public school
districts which maintained
separate schools for Anglo
and Mexican American
students in the absence of a
state law requiring such was a
violation of the equal
protection of the laws clause
of the U. S. Constitution’s
Fourteenth Amendment. The
judge’s decision, however, left
in place the legal segregation
of African American students,
and it also allowed public
school districts to provide
separate first-grade classes for
“language- deficient students
who were identified by
scientifically standardized
tests.”
A
In this 1950 case the U. S.
Supreme Court ruled that the
equal protection of the laws
clause of the U. S.
Constitution’s Fourteenth
Amendment required that an
African American applicant be
admitted to the University of
Texas Law School since there
was no “separate but equal”
state law school for African
Americans.
Sweatt v. Painter
A
A
In this 1954 case the U. S.
Supreme Court unanimously
overruled the Court’s 1896
decision in Plessy v Ferguson
and in doing so declared that
racial segregation by state law
in public schools, even though
the separate schools may be
equal, violates the equal
protection of the laws
guaranteed by the U. S.
Constitution’s Fourteenth
Amendment.
Brown v. Board of
Education
A
A
In this 1954 case the U. S.
Supreme Court unanimously
ruled that the equal protection
of the laws clause of the U. S.
Constitution’s Fourteenth
Amendment is violated when
a state tries a person of a
particular race or ancestry
before a jury from which all
persons of that race or
ancestry have been excluded
from serving.
Hernandez v. Texas
A
A
In this 1973 case the U. S.
Supreme Court ruled that
districts from which members
of a state legislature are
chosen may vary in population
by up to 10% without violating
the equal protection of the
laws clause of the U. S.
Constitution’s Fourteenth
Amendment or the Court’s
1964 ruling in Reynolds v Sims.
At the same time, the Court
ruled that the multi-member
Texas House districts in Dallas
and Bexar counties
discriminated against racial or
ethnic minorities and were
thus unconstitutional.
White v. Regester
A
Edgewood Independent
school District v. Kirby
A
A
In this 1989 case the Texas
Supreme Court ruled that the
method which the state was
then using to finance its public
schools had resulted in great
disparities among public
school districts and thus
violated that part of the Texas
Constitution which requires
the state to support and
maintain “an efficient system
of public free schools.” This
decision resulted in the Texas
Legislature’s adopting a new
method for financing Texas’
public schools known as the
“Robin Hood plan” whereby
property rich school districts
are required to share a portion
of their revenue with property
poor school districts.
A
Tinker v. Des Moines
School District
In this 1969 case the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that
public school students do have
rights protected by the U. S.
Constitution and that a school
district had violated students’
First Amendment freedom of
speech when it suspended
them for wearing black
armbands to school in silent
protest of the Vietnam War.
A
A
In this 1972 case the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that a
state law requiring all children
to attend school until the age
of sixteen violated the Amish’s
free exercise of religion as
guaranteed by the U. S.
Constitution’s First
Amendment.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
A
A
Montgomery bus driver
has officers remove an
African-American
passenger from the bus
for refusing to relocate
to the equal but separate
seating allowed by law.
The female sailors protested
their placement on separate
ships from other personnel
since there was
no law requiring the
segregation.
A
Parents of special needs
students sued their local
school district for violating
their students' 14th
amendment rights to equal
protect of the law by
maintaining separate
schools for "regular" and
"special needs" students
A
A
The female cadet argued
for the right to attend
the all male military
academy since there
was no "female"
alternative.
A
The Chinese defendant
claimed his equal protection
rights were violated since
state law restricted
naturalized citizens from
serving on a jury.
The women argued that
the business club's
discriminatory practices
in refusing to award
membership to females
violated their 14th
amendment equal protect
right since the act of
segregating men and
women, even if there were
equal female facilities,
gave an unfair business
advantages to the men
A
Louisiana voters sued the
state for packing
African-American voters
into Congressional District
2 and thereby diminishing
their political influence in
surrounding districts.
A
A
Ms. Radogno claims that
Chicago "receives a
disproportionate share
of the state's education
resources" thanks to
"outdated (funding) formulas,
a de-emphasis on the
foundation level which
equalizes school districts'
property wealth and a
shift to special grant(s)."
A
The Abramos allege school
staff violated their son's
First Amendment rights
when they removed
messages explaining the
religious history of
Valentine's Day from cards
the first-grader planned to
distribute to his friends.
Two middle school students
refuse to remove pink wrist
bands promoting breast
cancer awareness. Their
school administration
suspended the girls, arguing
that the wrist bands were
"vulgar" speech and
disruptive to school
operations.
A
A
A
A