Sample Topic Selection and Resources

  • Due No Due Date
  • Points None

Case: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

Please review these resources, before you start the assignment

Anatomy of a Supreme Court Case

The Grade "A" Checklist

Understanding Legal Writing

How the Supreme Court Works

 

PARAGRAPH ONE: Provide a brief summary (background details/context) of the case.

    • WHO are the parties involved (who's suing whom)

    • WHY is one party appealing to the Supreme Court?

    • WHAT is that party's legal claim?

    • HOW would that party want the court to rule?

EXAMPLE: Linda Brown, an African American teenager, applied for admission to an all-white public school in Topeka, Kansas. The Board of Education of Topeka refused to admit her based on her African American racial ancestry. Brown, one of those African American students, sued claiming that she was denied her constitutional right to "equal protection of the law," as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The case reached the United States Supreme Court by way of appeals through lower courts, all of which had ruled against Ms. Brown in accordance with the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision, which established the “separate but equal” doctrine.

PARAGRAPH TWO: What did the Supreme Court decide in its ruling on the case?

    • Specifically, what was the final "Opinion of the Court" (it's always the first opinion when reading a case) I emphasize "Supreme Court" because students may erroneously confuse lower court decisions with the final Supreme Court ruling. You need to write primarily about the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

EXAMPLE: The issue before the court was whether Plessy v. Ferguson should be overturned. Or to rephrase it, when applied to public education, does the “separate but equal” doctrine violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the decision for a unanimous court (9-0), to overrule Plessy and the separate but equal doctrine. The Court concluded that segregation of African American schoolchildren “generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” On this basis the Court concluded “that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

PARAGRAPH THREE: Finally, share your preliminary thoughts… 

    • Finally, share your preliminary thoughts on the Supreme Court's decision - do you agree or disagree? Explain why. Be more specific than "I agree with the Supreme Court's decision because it's the right decision." 

EXAMPLE: I agree with the supreme court’s decision, because as long as state-sponsored segregation exists, there will never be the equal protection of the law. Plessey v. Ferguson was a most unfortunate decision, which significantly delayed any chance African Americans had at equal treatment under the law. And what is the purpose of the equal protection clause, if not equal treatment, especially relating to education? My only complaint about the case is that it was a narrow ruling and technically applied only to public schools. It took the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 10 years later, to desegregate the South.

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