IV.

The Opinion

The question before the court was simple: “Was segregated education unconstitutional?” In the first half of his opinion, Warren did not answer that question, and he gave no hint of the decision the court would make. Reading the opinion in a courtroom packed with news reporters, he simply explained the facts of the cases before him and the history of the American doctrine of “separate but equal.” Warren acknowledged that the history of the law regarding segregation was inconclusive, particularly as it was addressed in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, requires that every state give equal protection under the law to all persons, without regard to race. Warren reviewed the histories of the 14th Amendment, public education, and segregation. Then, speaking for a unanimous court, Chief Justice Warren concluded, “In approaching this problem, we cannot turn the clock back to 1868 when the amendment was adopted, or even to 1896 when Plessy v. Ferguson was written. We must consider public education in the light of its full development and its present place in American life throughout the Nation.”

Warren stressed the importance of education to a democratic society, claiming that education is “perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.” He emphasized that “It is the very foundation of good citizenship.” Warren then restated the original question before the court and provided an answer: “Does segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunity?” His answer: “We believe that it does.”

Warren supported his analysis with references to research performed by sociologists and psychologists on the damage to children caused by mandatory segregation. Finally, Warren concluded by saying that “in the field of education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” This ringing statement was followed by a single paragraph of carefully written conciliatory language. Warren declared that segregation was unconstitutional, but that the decision would have no immediate effect on the parties involved. Instead, the court would hear reargument in the case the following year to consider how to implement its decision.

In April 1955 the court heard 13 hours of arguments over four days on how to end segregation in the public schools. Ultimately, in what is popularly known as Brown II (1955), the Supreme Court turned the implementation of desegregation over to the federal district courts in the South. The district courts were ordered to desegregate schools with “all deliberate speed,” an ambiguous phrase that allowed many Southern judges to avoid desegregation for years. Linda Brown did not attend an integrated school until 1955, when she had reached junior high school. None of the children of the 20 plaintiffs in the Clarendon County case ever attended integrated schools. Nevertheless, Brown helped launch the modern civil rights movement and led to other court decisions that struck down all forms of legalized racial discrimination. By having segregation in the schools declared unconstitutional, civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall won one of the most important victories of his life.