"The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth, and in power... But in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind." — Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Harlan's reasoning differs from the Plessy majority opinion most fundamentally because the majority held that
- Acheck_circle
Legally mandated separation of the races did not imply inequality
- B
The Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to state actions
- C
Railroads were exempt from federal regulation under the Commerce Clause
- D
Congress lacked authority to pass civil rights statutes
Explanation
The Plessy majority (Justice Brown) reasoned that "separate but equal" accommodations did not stamp Black Americans with a badge of inferiority. Harlan rejected this premise as a legal fiction.