Supreme Court Case

The Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson was an extremely important one, and one which set a significant precedent in the United States that would not be overturned until the Brown v. Board of Education decision in the middle of the 20th century. The former case set the precedent for what was known as the separate but equal doctrine. The principle question considered in this case was whether or not segregation -- a distinction between facilities, services and treatment of people -- could be lawfully determined based on race. Prior to the Supreme Court's ruling on this case, the state of Louisiana passed a law known as the Separate Car Act which mandated that African-American and Caucasian passengers in the railroad system had to sit in different cars based on their race. There was no federal consensus on this law, which had merely operated at the...
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