Plessy v. Ferguson
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
The Supreme Court has since described that act as an overruling: in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) it wrote that in Brown "the Court overruled the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537 (1896), along with six other Supreme Court precedents that had applied the separate-but-equal rule." Four later courts independently criticized Plessy as unjust, untenable, pernicious, infamous, or an abdication of judicial duty. The other citing opinions reported Brown's act, invoked Plessy or Justice Harlan's dissent as historical comparisons, or addressed adverse language aimed at other cases. The three-judge court in Browder v. Gayle expressly refused to follow Plessy after concluding that intervening Supreme Court decisions had displaced it; that lower-court recognition is not listed separately because the treatment itself is Brown's.
1,035 later cases cite Plessy v. Ferguson; 99 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Plessy v. Ferguson?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Overruled
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The Supreme Court overruled Plessy, rejecting its separate-but-equal doctrine and holding that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
Brown v. Board of Education · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
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Criticized
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The Fourth Circuit described the injustice wrought by Plessy and its separate-but-equal proposition as untenable.
Belk v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · Fourth Circuit · filed
Early efforts aimed at combating the injustice wrought by Plessy in educational settings often centered on state-funded graduate and professional schools. See, e.g., Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337, 59 S.Ct. 232, 83 L.Ed. 208 (1938); see generally Mark V. Tushnet, The NAACP’s Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education 1925-1950 (1987). In Gaines, an African-American student was denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law on account of his race. Missouri had no “separate but equal” law school for its African-American citizens and instead offered to pay Gaines’ tuition and expenses for a legal education in another state. The Supreme Court held that Missouri’s offer denied Gaines equal protection of the laws. The Court observed that “[t]he admissibility of laws separating the races in the enjoyment of privileges afforded by the State rests wholly upon the equality of the privileges which the laws give to the separated groups within the State.” Gaines, 305 U.S. at 349, 59 S.Ct. 232. Though providing only small victories, cases like Gaines exposed “separate but equal” for the untenable proposition that it was.
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The Middle District of Georgia endorsed Justice Harlan's description of Plessy's judgment as pernicious.
Thomas County Branch of the National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. City of Thomasville School District · Middle District of Georgia · filed
Although Justice Harlan did not carry the day in Plessy, his prediction that "the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case,” id. at 559, 16 S.Ct. 1138, ultimately proved true, with Justice Harlan's formal vindication arriving over a half a century later in Brown I.
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The Western District of Kentucky condemned Plessy as an example of a court abdicating its judicial duty by displaying disdain for facts.
Tiwari v. Meier · W.D. Ky. · filed
For an example of a Court that abdicated its judicial duty by displaying a disdain for facts, see Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), overruled by Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
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The Supreme Court of South Carolina called Plessy infamous and criticized its legitimization of state racial segregation.
Candace Eidson v. SC Dept. of Education · Supreme Court of South Carolina · filed
In 1896, the United States Supreme Court handed down the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which legitimized "separate but equal" treatment of black and white citizens by public actors under the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause, including schools. 163 U.S. 537 (1896), overruled by Brown v. Bd. of Ed. of Topeka, Shawnee Cnty., Kan., 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
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