How much do you know about the decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court and the impact that those decisions have on our lives? Your first thought might be that you know very little. The reality is that most of us have heard of the decisions, but, have very little knowledge as to what they mean. The titles to the decisions are practically household names: Dred Scot vs. Stanford (1857), Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), Miranda vs. Arizona (1966), Roe vs. Wade (1973), and U.S. vs. Nixon (1974). Of extreme impact was a lesser known decision – Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896).
First, there is Dred Scot vs. Stanford, better known as the Dred Scot Decision. This was a landmark case in that it established the idea that a slave cannot be declared free, just because he/she has entered into a free state. The decision of Scot to pursue that lawsuit came from English law. The law stated that if a slave was carried into a free area, then he/she is entitled to his/her freedom. Unfortunately, that law did not prevail in this case, although it was quite common for slaves to just he same (in the U.S.) – sue their masters, and win their freedom. In the original case, Scot won, but Stanford appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was taken before a newly installed, pro-slavery justice, who ruled in favor of Stanford. Even more irony ensued – Scot’s first owner bought freedom for Dred and his family in May of 1857, and Scot died of tuberculosis six months later.
There was one dissenting justice in Plessy vs. Ferguson (PvF) -John Marshal Harlan, who declared the Dred Scot Decision nothing less than a tribunal. PvF upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation. It contended that the races were “separate but equal”. In 1892, Homer Plessy, a Black man, boarded a train which was designated for Whites only. When told to move to a “colored car”, he refused and was arrested. He argued that his rights, under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, have been violated. The original case, Homer Adolph Plessy vs. The State of Louisiana, was presided over and decided by John Howard Ferguson, who ruled in favor of the state. Plessy then took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court under the title PvF. The dissenting justice, John M. Harlan, was a former slave owner who had “seen the light” as a result of Ku Klux Klan activity, and went on to fight for Black civil rights. Plessy lost the case, and paid his fine. “Separate but equal” remained a part of our history as law until the famed “Brown vs. The Board of Education” (BvB).
Oliver L. Brown, a Black parent, voiced his concerns about “separate but equal” to attorney William Glenn, Sr, who, in turn, convinced Brown to join in a lawsuit against Topeka, Kansas schools, which eventually became Brown vs. the Board of Education (BvB). It seems that Brown’s daughter had to walk twenty-one (21) blocks to her school bus stop to ride to her elementary school (Monroe Elementary, a Black segregated school), although Sumner Elementary School (a white school) was only seven (7) blocks from her home. The case was lead by a group of lawyers from the NAACP, with their chief counsel being a lawyer by the name of Thurgood Marshall. The parents involved tried enrolling their children in closer White schools, and their applications were denied. Upon reaching court, “separate but equal” was cited per PvF, and ruled in favor of Topeka Schools. The case was then taken to the U.S. Supreme Court with the case combining five other cases of the same nature. The court ruled that segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment in 1954. The ruling was re-argued to determine the “fix”, and the outcome was that schools should be de-segregated.
Ernesto Miranda was a Mexican immigrant arrested and charged with kidnap and rape. When the case went to court, Miranda vs. Arizona, it was determined that Miranda was never advised of his rights such as the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and all of the things that we are all so familiar with when it comes to being arrested and or prosecuted. It was argued that when Miranda was arrested, he was intimidated by the surroundings (police station, police environment, and being “out of his element”). This violated his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. As a result of the Miranda Decision, all suspects must be advised (in no particular order) that they have the right to remain silent, that anything they said can, and will be used against them in a court of law, that they have the right to have an attorney present during questioning, and that if an attorney cannot be afforded, the court will provide a lawyer for the suspect (together known as the Miranda Statement). Ernesto Miranda was released. A new trial convicted him by use of witnesses, as opposed to his own self-incrimination. He was convicted, served time, and released. Miranda was killed in a knife fight. At the time of his death, he had several copies of the Miranda Statement on his person.
We can all name at least one landmark case that has been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, and can give at least some small details as to the impact of the decision. The ones that we know of as “household” words are just a drop in the bucket compared to all of the other cases with which we are not familiar. They are all equally as important as the next – a variation on the “separate but equal” theme, if you will. It is important to know who makes these decisions and what impact they have on our lives today and tomorrow. Join us later for more of the (In)Justices of the Supreme Court.
This is blackstarr saying “Vive La Renaissance!”
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