By now everyone knows that Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States and will begin to serve his term in January 2017. No matter who is president, everyone living in the U.S. has certain basic rights under the U.S. Constitution.
By now everyone knows that Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States and will begin to serve his term in January 2017. No matter who is president, everyone living in the U.S. has certain basic rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Plessy 1Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda .docxLeilaniPoolsy
Plessy 1
Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda v. Arizona
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Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda v. Arizona
Two landmark rulings made by the Supreme Court involve the cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda v. Arizona. In both rulings the impact to society was great with one resulting in the segregation of African American citizen for the next fifty years while the other affected the way law enforcement officers’ question and interrogate criminal offenders. While both of these cases occurred in two different centuries the ruling of the court had a direct impact on functions in American society and the rights of the individual citizen. In Plessy the rights of the African American where limited but in the case of Miranda individual rights were broadened.
Plessy vs. Ferguson
In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson the case began when an African American male who was half white and appeared white went against a Louisiana law that requires separate accommodations for separate races. Homer Plessy was a member of a group in New Orleans known as the Citizens Committee that fought for the equal right of the African American citizen. The Citizens Committee decided to test a Louisiana Law known as the 1890 Louisiana Separate Car Act. When Homer Plessy entered the train and took accommodations in the white section of the railcars he was detained by a police officer and held in a separate car until he was arrested upon exiting the train. Plessy was charged with breaching Louisiana Law and was jailed and fined.
On appeal the Louisiana Appeals Court ruled declared forced segregation in railroad cars traveling between states to be unconstitutional (Wolf, 2011). The case was then appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court that upheld the ruling of the district court and found the state had a right to establish laws that provide separate but equal accommodations. The case was then appealed for the last time when it went in front of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state and the laws concerning the segregation of the White and African American citizen was not addressed for over sixty years when the Supreme Courts ruling was reversed in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education.
When the Plessy case was brought in front of the Supreme Court by the defendant and the members of the Citizens Committee the claim was the defendant was denied his Fourteenth and Thirteenth Amendment rights. Plessy claimed that the 1890 Louisiana Separate Car Act violated his Thirteenth Amendment right against involuntary servitude. In other Plessy was claiming that by being forced into separate accommodations he was being placed in involuntary servitude. The court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment did not apply to segregation so the defendants Thirteenth Amendment right could not have been violated.
Under the Fourteenth Amendment the defendant, Plessy, claimed he was denied the right to equal protection.
1. US Case Law Project
Joe Gadaleta
College business law
2. Brown v. Board
Linda Brown and her sister had to walk a far way to their bus stop when
there was a closer school to their house. They wanted to be able to go
to that school but schools were segregated. They want to court to get
the schools unsegregated and took it to the supreme court.
3. The defense said that the schools were equal in busing, buildings, and
the teachers so there was no reason to make the schools unsegregated.
4. The Supreme Court decided that segregated schools were not equal
and that kids needed a proper education. The 14th amendment was
used in this case did show that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
5. Miranda v. Arizona
Ernesto Miranda was Mexican immigrant who was arrested after being
chosen in a police line up. He was charged for rape and kidnaping and
was interrogated for 2 hours.
6. The police said they never read him his rights because he was arrested
before and they said them to him then.
7. The court decided in favor of Miranda and that everyone needs their
rights to be told to them like that they have the right to remain silent
and the right to an attorney. The 5th and 6th amendments were used
because those were the ones not read to Miranda when he was
arrested.
8. Mapp v Ohio
The police illegally searched her house without a warrant and in areas
of the house that did not pertain to the suspected bomber.
9. The defense said that cause it was searched without force it was legal
but if her house was searched with force it would’ve been illegal.
10. The court ruled against mapp and let the ohio courts make a decision.
In another case the 14th amendment did not prevent the admission of
evidence claimed by an illegal search and seizure.