Supreme Court Dbq Analysis

Improved Essays
The Supreme Court has always made decisions that have had lasting impacts on society. ¬A time period during which this was particularly true was the period between the years 1953 and 1969, when the Chief Justice of the court was Earl Warren. Under his influence, the court made a number of legal decisions that continue to hold significance in American society today. Such court cases include Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Miranda v. Arizona (1966).
The issue of segregation has long been a part of American society, especially in the South. In the early to the mid-twentieth century, Jim Crow laws kept a rigid separation between black and white. Even Supreme Court cases such Plessy v. Ferguson made segregation constitutional, providing
…show more content…
The ‘equality’ looked good on paper but reality was rarely the case, especially when it came to schools. Substandard buildings, supplies, and transportation often made the educational experience for African Americans inferior to whites. It wasn’t until 1954 with the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in schools was made unconstitutional (Document 2), based on the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. In order to become integrated, some schools were forced to resort to bussing their students in from other areas (Document 3a) – although the ruling took care of ‘de jure’ integration of society (that which is imposed by the federal court system), it did little to immediately reverse the ‘de facto’ segregation of society, especially in the South (‘de facto’ implies that which has become the unwritten law of social classes and segregated residential areas themselves). Long-term effects of the decision were more dramatic, however. In the long run Brown v. Board of Education helped to create a black middle class (Document 3b) by providing legal means for African Americans to demonstrate their equality. For a long time, many …show more content…
Arizona (1966). This decision, generally speaking, defined the rights of the accused after an appeal was made on behalf of Ernesto Miranda. It said, among other things, that each person accused of a crime has the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney (Document 7). The tradition of these Miranda rights has become common knowledge in American society, despite the fact that some people believe that they are generally too lenient and often hamper the justice system’s ability to convict guilty criminals of their crimes (Documents 5a & 5b). The Supreme Court has failed to see adequate need for reversal of this decision, despite the dramatic odds that lie in favour of the accused as a result of the decision, and the fact that the victim is often left without help when the offender is not convicted. In a recent case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Miranda decision was too deeply rooted in history to overturn (Document 9). Miranda v. Arizona (1966) was clearly an impactful long-lasted Warren Court decision that will not likely lose its significance in the near future due to its enforcement of the 5th and 14th

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Miranda Vs Arizona Case

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Pages

    On June 13, the court came to the decision on the Miranda vs. Arizona case saying that all suspects must be told what their rights are before they are arrested. On March 2, 1963, Ernesto Miranda was deliberatly interrogated after being arrested for robbery, rape, and kidnap. . However, he was not informed of his rights before being questioned and Miranda confessed to robbery, rape, and kidnap. Mentally unstable and alone, miranda was without an attorney at trial and the prosecution formed their case off of the fact that Miranda confessed earlier. Sentenced with 20-30 years in prison, Miranda tried to convince the Arizona Supreme Court that his confession was given unconstitutionally and it was unfair, but the punishment still remained.…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bush Vs Gore Case Study

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Today: The case of Bush v. Gore still continues to cause controversy even today after this case has ended almost 15 years ago. This case has caused debate over separation of powers according to npr.org. It's quite a unique case because I have done tons of research on the case and there is no case that could relate to Bush v. Gore regarding the laws that were being questioned. This case was a one in a lifetime thing, at least we should hope. There's hasn't been any controversies over the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment to this…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In June of 1966, the outcome of the trial - Miranda v. Arizona declared that suspects must be informed of their specific legal rights when being placed under arrest, bringing about the creation of the Miranda Rights and forever altering all criminal arrests and law enforcement conduct. The Supreme Court’s decision in Miranda v. Arizona addressed four different cases involving custodial interrogations. These four cases included Miranda v. Arizona (the first case taken), Vignera v. New York, Westover v. United States, and the case of California v. Stewart. In each of these cases, the defendant was questioned by law enforcement in an excluded room, cut off from the outside world.…

    • 1901 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this relatively recent, landmark Supreme Court case, the Association for Molecular Pathology, various other medical professionals, and even a few patients petitioned together in order to sue Myriad Genetics for attempting to patent the specific genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Christopher A. Hansen represented the plaintiffs of this case while Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, from the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., argued on behalf of the respondent of the case (SCOTUSblog). BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that can be used as indicators of breast cancer in women (Oyez). Myriad Genetics had sequenced these genes from strands of human DNA and wished to patent them for the expressed purpose of control over any future use of the…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Often African Americans were forced to attend segregated schools and they could only go to segregated hospitals,” (Appleby et all, 392). Segregation lived on for many years because of the “Separate but Equal” Doctrine introduced in Plessey v.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Role of the Supreme Court Today Due to the life tenure of the Supreme Court justices and the power of the Supreme Court, the role of the Supreme Court was under a lot of debates nowadays. All three authors expressed their views towards this issue. The first article was written by Ilya Somin.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    THE SCHOOL DESEGREGATION CASE In May, 1896 the Supreme Court delivered its opinion “Separate is equal” in Plessy v.Ferguson case which meant that separate but equal facilities between Color and White citizens was constitutional; therefore, segregation in school was legal as long as the Black and White students received the same education. This law was upheld for fifty eight years later until May 14, 1954 when the Supreme Court drove to its decision on Brown v. Broad of Education of Topeka Kansas case that the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place in the field of public education. This decision landmarked a turning day in American history that the African American was becoming accepted in the White society.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Supreme Court decisions have made many changes in life in the United States. Some of the cases affected many or not a lot but they still had an impact on American society. In the Linda Brown Case, the justices said that black children and white children should not go to separate schools. In the Gerald Gault case, before this case children in juvenile courts did not have the same rights as adults.…

    • 84 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Profiling Out of the nearly three hundred million people in the United States, the number of Americans that reported to have been profiled due to their race was thirty-two million in 2004, approximately the population of Canada (“Racial Profiling and the Use of Suspect Classification”). Racial profiling happens when a law enforcement official targets an individual based on their race or ethnicity. But racial profiling violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Arizona can also be put into the frame of judicial activism. The Supreme Court created a new law, bypassing the elected legislative branch of government, in order to protect the rights of the accused. The law that requires police to read the defendant the “Miranda Rights” not only helps to protect the defendant from self-incrimination under duress, but it also reduces police violence and other forms of intimidation that could lead to a false confession. The new law protects the rights of the accused and changes the behavior of the police towards arrests and interrogations, reconciling growing police powers with individual basic…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a result of this case, the Supreme Court “declared that ‘separate but equal has no place in public education’ and that ‘separate facilities are inherently unequal’” (Cushner, 2015, p. 44). After the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka provided the start for desegregation in the schools, “on September 4, 1957, nine black teenagers attempting to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the first time were turned away by the National Guard, which was called out by Governor Orval Faubus ‘to preserve the peace and aert violence’” (Cushner, 2015, p. 33).…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One such decision was the court case of Marbury vs. Madison. William Marbury was designated as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia. When he didn’t get this position, he decided to sue James Madison, who was the Secretary of State. The designation was made legal by Section 13 of the Judiciary act of 1789. The Supreme Court had to determine if Marbury was entitled to his appointment, if a lawsuit was the correct way to get the position and, if the Supreme Court was the place for Marbury to get the relief he requests?…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This article gives a brief summary of the situations of classrooms till the enactment of Brown v Board of Education case of 1954. Brown v. Board of Education was the landmark case which declared the separation of black and white schools unconstitutional. For a long time, the black Americans inured a life of abject poverty, maltreatment, inequality and injustice. The quest for fairness, love and justice led them on to fight for their rights. The famous Plessy V ferguson case of 1896 which was behind the ‘separate but equal’ decision, may or may not have been effective in the country because racial segregation still lingered on in some states.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    National and state governments evolved into much larger systems throughout the nation’s history. The United States began forming a federal system in 1787, starting with the Constitution. The Constitution of the United States of America is what the national and state governments are shaped around. It established the national government and the fundamental laws needed for everyday life as a United States’ citizen.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Today 's generation of minorities has been opened up to a new world of education,voting ,and proper representation . In the 1950 's to the 1980 's African-americans were not allowed to have the same rights as Caucasian People. Blacks wanted their civil right but not all blacks understood what that included.¨Civil rights are the freedoms and rights that a person may have as a member of community, state, or nation. Civil rights include freedom of speech, of the press, and of religion. Among others are the right to own property and to receive fair and equal treatment from the government, other persons, and private groups¨ (Bruce Murphy).…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays