Harlan's Dissent in Plessy

 Harlan's Dissent in Plessy

Justice John Marshall Harlan was famous for being the only dissenter from the US Supreme Court in the ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson. This case was ruled that the United States is a “separate but equal” place. This upheld the segregation laws. Here is a little bit about Harlan. Harlan was born in 1833 and died in 1911. Many people learned a lot from him because of how open-minded and willing he was to reevaluate issues and search for new facts to change societal causes. 

In the 1950s, Harlan’s reputation drastically changed. This happened because of two events in 1954. One of them being the Court’s adoption of his famous dissent in Brown vs. Board of Education. The second one was President’s Dwight D. Eisenhower’s nomination of his respected grandson and brand to the High Tribunal. 

Justice Harlan’s dissent became immortal became a law in the Brown vs. Board of Education case. This is because the court overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine. The court prevented congress from abolishing slavery. It was stated that it is unconstitutional and a violation of the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment states that “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 

Because of this breach of the 14th amendment, Harlan took the Plessy court because they embraced the separate but equal doctrine. To him, that was morally unacceptable. It did not appear to be satisfying to the 14th amendment. This is because there was not a strict set guarantee of the equal protection part of its law. In favor of Plessy, the court supported segregation. 

Justice Harlan was extremely mad and outraged with Plessy. This was visible and noticeable to everyone. Harlan believed that during the court's ruling of this case, Plessy would be viewed like Dred Scott vs. Sanford which happened in 1857. This was when the court stated that black people could never be citizens in the United States of America. 

Sources

- https://www.thinkwy.org/post/justice-harlans-imperishable-dissent-in-plessy-v-ferguson#:~:text=Justice%20Harlan's%20dissent%20in%20Plessy,badges%20and%20incidents%E2%80%9D%20of%20slavery

- https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1335/john-marshall-harlan-i