The ruling "Brown v. Board of Education" was issued on May 17, 1954, unanimously (9-0) by the Warren Court; and established that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal". With this, the Supreme Court reversed the existing precedents from Plessy against Ferguson in 1896. As a result of this ruling, racial segregation came to be considered as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This ruling opened the way for racial integration and achieving civil rights for African Americans.