Plessy v. Ferguson & Cumming v. Board of Education Richmond County
Facts of the Case
In the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1892 a case was filed in the Supreme Court against the Louisiana’s Separate car Act based on a ruling by the District court. The law stated “equal but separate accommodation” for white and African American passengers for railroads operating within the state. Home Plessy who is a mixed race individual of white and African American descent bought a rail ticket and was arrested and charged after he refused to move to an Africa American designated car in violation of the Separate Car Act. In a U.S. District Court judge John H. Ferguson dismissed his dispute as unconstitutional.
In the Cumming v. Board of Education Richmond County case in 1880 the board of education in Richmond County, Georgia launched a Ware High School for African American students at a tuition fee of $10. Another special committee then decided seven years later to close the school and convert it to four elementary schools. J.W Cumming among other African American parents objected to this closing seeking an injunction against the tax collector under the argument that the board was not within the law to levy taxes that supported a high school system that supported only white high school students.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Issues
The Louisiana Separate Car Act was in contradiction to section 1 of the 14 th amendment due its denial of equal rights of travel privileges or United States citizens based on race.
The decision by the Board of Education Richmond County in this case was in contrary to the 14 th amendment since the decision of the board of education in Richmond County deprived those children of the privilege of an education based on their race.
Decisions
In a U.S. District Court judge John H. Ferguson dismissed his dispute as unconstitutional. This ruling was later affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The court ruled that the Georgia county board of education was not in violation of any constitutional rights.
Reasoning
The reasoning behind the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling was that the “Separate Car Act” did not violate the 14 th amendment since it protected only the legal equality of whites and African Americans which was sufficiently respected.
The reasoning behind the Cumming v. Board of Education Richmond County ruling was that the decision made by the board was non-discriminatory since the 60 high school students could get their education in private learning institutions at tuition fees no higher than what they already paid at Ware High school.
Separate Opinions
In the case Plessy v. Ferguson Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan expressed the violation of the “Separate Car Act” of the 14 th amendment in its attempt to regulate civil rights on the basis of race.
There was no dissenting opinion on the Cumming v. Board of Education Richmond County case.
Analysis
Section 1 of the 14 th Amendment aims at protecting individual rights of United States citizens against state laws ( Chemerinsky, 2016) . It elaborates that no individual that is a citizen of the United States shall be denied by any state laws privileges or immunities, life, properties, or liberties without due process of the law. The above cases and their rulings show a contrary application of this section of the 14 th amendment.
References
Chemerinsky, E. (2016). Constitutional law . Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
