Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The theory failed, and the judge found that Louisiana could enforce this law. Plessy was convicted and fined. Tourgée argued that the law required “separate but equal accommodations” was unconstitutional. When Judge John H. Ferguson ruled against him, Plessy applied for the State Supreme Court for a writ of prohibition and certiorari. Although the court upheld the state law, it granted Plessy’s petition for a writ of error that would enable him to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
