Case Brief

Parties:  Brown (plaintiff) v. Board of Education of Topeka (defense)

Facts:

This case includes more cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware.  Parents of
several black children suit Board of Education  because they wouldn´t let their children study with
white students.  They claimed that this segregation is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection
Clause of the 14^th Amendment.


Legal issue:

Is the race-based segregation of children into “separate but equal” public schools constitutional?


Procedural history:

The court ruled on the base of „separate but equal“ doctrine before. They used for model a case
Plessy vs. Ferguson which stated that race-based division of public transportation is
constitutional.  However, this case went to the Supreme Court which ruled that this kind of
segregation is unconstitutional.


Reasoning of the court:

The verdict of Supreme Court was that this race-based segregation of eductional system is
unconstitutional and violates the Equal Protection Clause of 14^th Amendment.  If public schools
would be divided on the part where white children would study and other part where black children
would study, it is unlawful. Education must be available to all on equal terms.  Doctrine „separate
but equal“ has no place in cases like this.  This segregation would have bad impact on black
children in future and also on their results at school.