1. The court case Murray v. Maryland (1936) used precedent from the US Supreme Court Case Plessy v. Ferguson that ruled segregation was constitutional as long as it was separate but equal. Why could using this dogma be problematic in the journey for civil rights?
Murray v. Maryland (1936) was won the lower levels of the court system which was quite a victory, at the time getting a judge residing in the south, to see the injustices of segregation was not an easy task. Attorneys working these cases typically were prepared to lose their cases in the lower rungs and appeal, making their way up to the Supreme Court. However, in this case, that is not what happened. Murray won right away – the University appealed and lost, and that was the end of the story for Murray v. Maryland. The problem lies within, because the battle was won in the state courts rather than the …show more content…
If the case had made its way up to the Supreme Court and then won, any state that had did not have a separate operating Black Graduate School would be legally obligated to admit black students. However, this was not what happened and the only thing this case can be used for now is precedence. This case was helpful in setting precedence in the following cases: Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University Oklahoma (1948), McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) and Sweatt v. Painter (1950). In an ideal world the court case would like to be won on the principal that segregation is inherently wrong, but in 1936 the judicial system was far away from that verdict, which would not come until Sweatt v. Painter (1950). The road to abolishing separate but equal was quite a long one, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was overturned in
Murray v. Maryland (1936) was won the lower levels of the court system which was quite a victory, at the time getting a judge residing in the south, to see the injustices of segregation was not an easy task. Attorneys working these cases typically were prepared to lose their cases in the lower rungs and appeal, making their way up to the Supreme Court. However, in this case, that is not what happened. Murray won right away – the University appealed and lost, and that was the end of the story for Murray v. Maryland. The problem lies within, because the battle was won in the state courts rather than the …show more content…
If the case had made its way up to the Supreme Court and then won, any state that had did not have a separate operating Black Graduate School would be legally obligated to admit black students. However, this was not what happened and the only thing this case can be used for now is precedence. This case was helpful in setting precedence in the following cases: Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University Oklahoma (1948), McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) and Sweatt v. Painter (1950). In an ideal world the court case would like to be won on the principal that segregation is inherently wrong, but in 1936 the judicial system was far away from that verdict, which would not come until Sweatt v. Painter (1950). The road to abolishing separate but equal was quite a long one, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was overturned in