Writ of Certiorari

The Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs' petition for writ of certiorari on October 8, 1952. The Court combined Brown with a South Carolina school segregation case, Briggs v. Elliott, and noted there were additional cases in appellate court that were likely to be added later (two more were added, for a total of four; a fifth case was heard separately because it concerned segregation in the District of Columbia, federal territory). 

Ruling

The Supreme Court ruled 9 votes for Brown, 0 votes against Brown.  Each side had equal legal protection.

Opinion of the plaintiffs

The question presented in these cases must be determined, not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. 

The segregation of children in public schools based off of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal.  Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. 

The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in the field of public education. 

Opinion of the Board of Education of Topeka

In 1896 the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Homer Plessy, a black man from Louisiana, challenged the constitutionality of segregated railroad coaches, first in the state courts and then in the U. S. Supreme Court. The high court upheld the lower courts noting that since the separate cars provided equal services, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment was not violated. This case established the "separate but equal" doctrine which became the constitutional basis for segregation.

Opinion of the Court

In the first few cases in the Supreme Court, they interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as proscribing all state-imposed discriminations against the Negro race. The doctrine of

"separate but equal" did not make its appearance in this Court until 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, involving not education but transportation.

In more recent cases, inequality was found when specific benefits were enjoyed by white students, but were denied to Negro students of the same educational qualifications.

In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.  We come then to the question presented: does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.

The Warren Court