Question

PROMPT: How Is the Brown V. Board of Education decision an example of Judicial Review?

Define Judicial Review and explain how Brown V. Board was an example of this principle
Using 2 pieces of evidence quotes) explain why the Court came to the decision to desegregate schools.
6-8 sentences


In the early 1950s, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were inferior to white schools.
In Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grade student named Linda Brown had to travel 1 hour and 20 minutes each morning to her segregated school. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka’s branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help. The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in the Kansas public schools. With Brown, it had “the right plaintiff at the right time.” Other black parents joined Brown, and in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka’s public schools.
The Board of Education’s defense was that, because segregation existed in Topeka and elsewhere, segregated schools simply prepared black children for the segregation they would face during adulthood. The Board also argued that segregated schools were not necessarily harmful to black children since great African Americans such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver had overcome more than just segregated schools to accomplish what they had achieved. On the other side some argued “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children…. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.”
Mr. Brown and the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court on October 1, 1951. On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the court’s unanimous decision declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The Supreme Court’s ruling struck at the foundations of the country’s “separate but equal” treatment of Americans by race and would lead to the desegregation of schools across the nation. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms, but it was a giant step toward the complete integration of American society.

Answer 1

Judicial review is the power of a court to review and potentially invalidate a law or government action that it determines to be unconstitutional. It is an important principle in the American system of government, as it allows the courts to check the powers of the other branches of government and ensure that they are acting within the bounds of the Constitution.

The Brown v. Board of Education decision was an example of judicial review because the Supreme Court used its power of judicial review to declare that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In this case, the Court was asked to determine whether the "separate but equal" doctrine, which allowed segregation in public schools, was constitutional. The Court ultimately ruled that segregation in public schools was inherently unequal and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law to all citizens.

There are several pieces of evidence that the Court used to come to its decision to desegregate schools. One of these is the "doll test," which was conducted as part of the psychological research presented to the Court. In the doll test, black children were shown dolls that were identical except for their skin color and were asked which doll they preferred. The results showed that the majority of black children preferred the white doll and associated positive attributes with it, indicating that segregation was damaging to the self-esteem and sense of self-worth of black children.

Another piece of evidence that the Court considered was the "amicus curiae" brief filed by social scientists, which argued that segregation had a harmful psychological effect on black children and hindered their ability to learn. The brief stated that "segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn." This evidence played a significant role in the Court's decision to declare segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

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