Supreme Court Case: The Wabash Vs. Illinois Case

There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.

Segregation had been something the United States had struggled with for years. During the 1890’s segregation started to become more common and white people felt superior to other races, especially African Americans. White people believed, black people did not deserve the rights and respect that they had. Homer Plessy, the so called wrongdoer in the Plessy vs Ferguson case, was seven-eighths white and one-eighths black, and he had an appearance of a white man. On June 7, 1892, he purchased a railroad ticket from New Orleans to Covington La, and sat in an empty seat in a whites only car. Homer told the conductor he was black, and when asked to leave and move on to the appropriate car, he refused. He was an American citizen who had bought a first-class ticket and deserved to sit on that train. When the conductor called the police, Homer Plessy was arrested and later in court his case challenged the system and had a large impact on the African American community.The Plessy vs Ferguson trial affected humanity in both a positive and a negative way, because of the small negative short term cultural effects, such as disrespect towards African Americans, and the long term positive effects that lead to the equality between black and white people.

In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, making railroads the first industry subject to Federal regulation. This law was passed by the Congress largely in response to the public demand that railroad operations be regulated. A five-member enforcement board knowns as the Interstate Commerce Commission was also established by the act.

The Plessy v Ferguson case was a U.S. Supreme Case in 1896 that upheld the constitution of segregation. This case started when Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow Car therefore breaking a law in Louisiana in the year 1892. He had bought a first class ticket and then took his seat in a white-only car. Homer Plessy was arrested and imprisoned immediately. In the court Plessy argued that his Constitutional rights were violated, and he filed a petition against John H. Ferguson. Plessy argued that the segregation law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth and Thirteenth amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment keeps states from denying equal protection of the laws to every person and the Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery. The court denied Plessy’s petition and said that the Thirteenth Amendment only had to deal with slavery and nothing else.

The Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell in 1997 is a lawsuit in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law that offered the eugenic sterilization for individuals regarded genetically unfit. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Virginia’s statute regarding sterilization provided the basis for enactment of similar laws across the United States and subsequent sterilization of 65,000 Americans without their approval or that of their family members. Notably, the ruling of this case was based on the concept of feeblemindedness, which is no longer applicable in medical terminology. Actually, this case primarily involved state-enforced eugenic sterilization for individuals considered feebleminded or genetically substandard in certain ways. The case provides considerable insights concerning eugenics and enforced sterilization in the United States and significant concerns on whether genetics should be used for any king of legal decision.

John Coy was convicted at trial in the Iowa Supreme Court on July 13, 1988 after being

Why would the Indiana Attorney General wade into a United States Supreme Court case over the opening prayers said at town council meetings in western New York state?

Plaintiff in the Illinois Circuit: State of Illinois Defendant Lance and Susan Gates Appellant in the Illinois Appellate Court: State of Illinois Respondent in the Illinois Appellate Court: Lance and Susan Gates Appellant to the Illinois Supreme Court: State of Illinois Respondent to the Illinois Supreme Court: Lance and Susan Gates Petitioner to the SCOUTS: State of Illinois Respondent to the SCOUTS: Lance and Susan Gates.

Commerce Act: this This act was designed to regulate the railroad industry.This forced railroad rates to be reasonable and

During the depression of the 1870s, farmers protested against railroaders who ran the farmers into bankruptcy. Many Midwestern legislatures tried to regulate the railroad monopoly. In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act. It prohibited rebates and pools, required the railroads to publish their rates openly, forbade unfair discrimination against shippers, and outlawed charging more for a short trip than for a long trip over the same line. It also created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to administer and enforce the new legislation. The new laws provided a forum where competing businesses could resolve their conflicts in peaceful ways (instead of engaging in price wars). Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of

Interstate commerce act was the government intervening with business and regulating the railroad. Enforcing this act stopped monopolies from greatly expanding to where no citizen would be able to purchase a ticket for a train or allowing the company to price their products to high. Since establishing the act, the government has been more involved in businesses now. Today's society has the act, without it there would be no control.

The Interlocking Directorates was a business practice that railroad companies used the 1800s. The same boards of Directors ran two different companies. This resulted in price gouging and market monopolizing. The Grange motivated farm families to unite for their political benefit. It also encouraged farmers to fight to get state laws and regulate railroad monopolies. In 1877, The court case (Munn.V Illinois) ruled that states have the power to control business within its own borders. This made the farmers happy. In 1886(Wabash v. Illinois) , the Supreme Court ordered that railroad traffic across state lines could be controlled by the federal government. Because of this, the Farmers were upset. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 created the

On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court passed the case known as The Brown v. Board Education of Topeka, Kansas. The courts decision reversed the provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which allowed for “separate but equal” facilities, including public schools. The school system of Topeka, Kansas, operated separate schools for blacks and whites. Reverend Oliver Browns, father of eight-year-old Linda Browns had charged the board of education of Topeka, Kansas, with violating Linda’s rights by denying her admission to an all white school near her house. The nearest all-black school was 21 blocks away. Chief Justice Earl Warren decided that separated educational facilities were inherently unconstitutional.

One of the cases against segregated rail travel was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that "separate but equal" accommodations were constitutional. However, in 1952, the Supreme Court heard a number of school-segregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas. It decided unanimously in 1954 that segregation was unconstitutional, overthrowing the 1869 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had set the "separate but equal" precedent.

This was considered illegal and Plessy got arrested. Plessy chose to fight his case in court, because the segregation laws violated the fourteenth amendment. Four years later, the case was brought to the Supreme Court. The justices ruled against Homer Plessy. Their decision was that segregation is legal as long as equal facilities were provided. Justice Henry Billings Brown summarized, "The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to endorse social, as distinguished from political, equality. . . If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane."