Talk:Plessy v. Ferguson

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An event mentioned in this article is a May 18 selected anniversary

The article says:

Justice Brown declared, "We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption chodemanthat the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it."

Then it adds:

In other words, the Court held that state governments could bar blacks from public facilities based on traditional notions of racial inferiority.

But that's not what Brown said. He said that while African Americans and Caucasian Americans were separated, the fact that one was supperior or inferior to the other only came from what African American people themselves were suggesting in their lawsuit. One may disgree with that statement, but that is his point. I'm replacing "In other words" with "In consequence".

There seems to be a conflict in the "facts" of the Plessy v. Ferguson United States Supreme Court decision. In the main article of Plessy v. Ferguson it states :

"The railroad company had been informed already as to Plessy's racial lineage, and after Plessy had taken a seat in the whites-only railway car, he was asked to vacate it and sit instead in the blacks-only car. Plessy refused and was arrested immediately."

which seems to indicate that a third party had informed beforehand by a third party of Plessy's racial liniage. This is contardicted by the Homer Plessy page which states:

"On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad, running between New Orleans and Covington, and sat in the "whites only" passenger car. When the conductor came to collect his ticket, he told him that he was 1/8 African American, and he was refusing sit in the black only car."

Could someone out there who has any idea about this case please rectify this contradiction.

1 WTF, mate?
2 later cases
3 Thirteenth Amendment vs. Fourteenth Amendment
4 Protection

[edit] WTF, mate?

Why is the French version of this article longer than the English? They have the legal reasoning from the majority and dissent -- let's get somebody to write that in English!

Agreed -- we just covered chode this in my con law class; there's a heck of a lot more to say about it -- the "priveleges and immunities" v. "priveleges or immunities" clauses, equal protection clause, due process clause, and 13th & 14th Amendments each deserve at least a paragraph, not to mention at least a sentence or two on the distinction between substantive and procedural due process used by Brown. Harlan's dissent is legendary and should be given a lot more play. I'll give it what time I have soon, hopefully. Ryanluck 04:35, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] later cases

This article notes that Plessy found the quality of accomodation in the whites-only and blacks-only first-class railroad cars to be equivalent, and therefore "separate but equal", but also notes that the same was not true of many other segregated facilities. The obvious question that raises then is: Did anyone challenge any other facilities, not on the mere fact of their being segregated, but specifically on the basis of their being unequal? If so, did any of those challenges reach the Supreme Court? This seems like it'd be useful information towards the end of the article. --Delirium 07:22, 3 July 2006 (UTC)..

[edit] Thirteenth Amendment vs. Fourteenth Amendment

Thirteenth Amendment vs. Fourteenth Amendment???

Wasn't it the Fourteenth Amendment???? Equal Protection of the Laws instead of the abolishion of involuntary servitute that Plessy claimed to be violated.

My history textbooks says so and it makes more sense in my eyes.

Sources: Schmidt Shelly Bardes, American Governmant and Politics Today, 2005-2006 Alternate Edition, page 153.

Dynmics of Democracy, 2004 Version, Third Edition, Peverill Squire and more, page 147.

--Carsten79 00:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Who is Justice Pham, I've never heard of him and aparently google has not either. With Brewer sitting out, it should have been a 7-1 majority however the site says 8-1 with brewer out and a mysterious pham appearing twice in the article.

--ARiina 23:01, 14 November 2006 (EST)

The decision was 7-1, so it seems, though all the references I can find simply state that Brown was writing "for the court" while Harlan dissented and Brewer didn't take part. The mysterious "Pham" may be Rufus Peckham of Lochner fame. The reason the 13th Amendment comes up is that in his dissent Harlan states "We boast of the freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow-citizens, our equals before the law." (American Constitutional Law, Fisher, 6th ed., p. 769.) The "bond of servitude" seems to be a clear reference to the 13th Amendment, which prohibits "involuntary servitude." The 13th Amendment does seem a bit redundant in light of the 14th's equal protection clause, but they had different purposes. The 13th was specifically to end black slavery, so Harlan's reference to it may be a reference that the Louisiana laws violate even the most basic notion of equal protection present in the Constitution. Ryanluck 16:36, 15 November 2006 (UTC)