Race and the Equal Protection Clause

Question 1

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)(1310) (part of negative cannon)

Answer 1

i) Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. Lived in Illinois (a free state) for w while. After returning to Missouri, sued for his freedom, claiming his residence in free territory made him a free man.
ii) Court held Dred Scott was a slave and therefore he could not sue on diversity citizenship. b) Departmentalism:
i) Lincoln, after the Dred Scott decision said that the Court had made a decisions and was law for the purposes of the courts, but it was not the law for the purposes of decisions that had to be made as the president. Said that if he has to decide whether an African American is a citizen of the US, his answer is yes, which does not go against the SC in the sense that the court does not bind him.
ii) There is a distinction in coming to a decision different from what the courts have decided, versus disobeying directly an order directed at them.
c) 14th Amendment was a reaction to the Civil War and Dred Scott.

Question 2

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)(1317)

Answer 2

i) Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites.
ii) Court held Louisiana’s law was not an unconstitutional infringement on the EPC of the 14th amendment. Segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination.
(1) The justices based their decision on the separate but equal doctrine, that separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the 14th Amendment so long as they were equal.

Question 3

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)(1332)

Answer 3

i) Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to the races.
ii) Rule: Separate education facilities are inherently unequal
(1) The idea that you have a separate schools (even if equal) generates a feeling of inferiority
(2) The court relies on psychological studies that indicate separate schools student the education of minorities

Question 4

2. Enforcement of Brown

a) Bolling v. Sharpe:

Answer 4

segregation in DC, argument that because DC is not a state, and EPC is not in the fifth amendment, it does not apply to them.
i) Rule: The EPC is itself a component of Due Process: now inevitably it is understood that the EPC applies in all of its dimensions to the federal government as it does to the states.

Question 5

Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)(1341)

Answer 5

Reintegration of schools
i) Rule: “with all deliberate speed” ii) Court realizes there will be resistance, but remands case to the lower courts, noting that the
“courts will be guided by equitable principles.”
i) Equity: practical flexibility in shaping its remedies and reconciling public and private needs.

Question 6

Cooper v. Aaron (1958)(1343):

Answer 6

i) AR resisted Brown decision, refused to obey court ordered desegregation.
ii) Court held that AR officials were bound by federal court orders mandating desegregation.
(1) Supreme Court announces that it is interpreting the constitution for all branches of government, but this remains controversial.

Question 7

Griffin v. County School Board (1964)(1344)

Answer 7

Closing Schools:

i) Farmville and Prince Edward Country took the position that if they were going to be forced to integrate then they were just going to close the schools (made new private schools for whites)
(1) Rule: motive alone may render the exact same action unconstitutional that might be constitutional if done with other motives

Question 8

Green v. Country School Bd (1968)(1344)

Answer 8

Freedom of Choice:

i) A small county in VA says everyone can go to school where they want. No whites went to black schools and vice versa.
ii) Rule: no longer are we interested in the nature of the plan - interested in the results.
(1) Green is important because the court says they no longer care about the methods that schools claim to be using - looking to the outcome (tired of the sneakiness)
(2) We are interested in the creation of unitary school districts and the measure of if the school is unitary is numbers. Where there is an explicit history of segregation they must prove through numbers that a unitary school is created.

Question 9

Swann v. Charlotte - Meckleburg Bd of Education (1971)(1345)

Answer 9

i) Rule: busing to create unified schools is a permissible judicial remedy.

Question 10

Types of Discrimination

Answer 10

a) De Jure vs. De Facto
i) De Jure: By Law Discrimination that is directly the product of government action
(1) De jure segregation is a state wrong and the remedy can be designed to make sure the consequences of the wrong are diminished or eliminated.
ii) De Facto: (incidental)
(1) Residential and housing patterns, for example, produces segregated schools. State says not forcing people to stay or preventing people from moving, so not their control.
(2) The mere existence of a differential impact without state involvement is not itself a constitutional violation.