Judge Harlan's Dissent, Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy V. Ferguson was an 1896 Supreme Court case. In it, the court ruled that the state of Louisiana was not guilty of violating Homer Plessy's fourteenth amendment right with its segregated railroad cars. The decision was a product of its time. The court decided Louisiana did not violate Plessy's rights because although they were separate, they were "equal." However, this ruling had a negative impact on blacks in America as it gave way to the Jim Crow era of total segregation– separate housing, water fountains, bathrooms, jails, busses, and schools. But what is often overlooked in this case is judge Harlan's dissent in which he most famously asserted that the constitution is "color-blind."

Judge Harlan's dissent was also a product of its time. He stated that the white race was the most "dominant race in this country" in "prestige, in education, in wealth, and in power" (Harlan). He was not a black civil rights activist, but he was an originalist. He interpreted the constitution as it was written. He found segregation was "not justified upon any legal grounds (Harlan), and that we should not regulate the "enjoyment of civil rights upon the basis of race."

But Judge Harlan continued, arguing that "In the view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens" (Harlan).

Although Judge Harlan did not sway the Judges' decision, his dissent struck a chord with America and to this day remains a very famous speech.

Source: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/nclc375/harlan.html