Understanding the Court System
[Shannon Wallace]
[Name of the Institution]
Introduction
In this modern world, every state has three branches of government. These are executive, legislature and judiciary. Executive is the branch of geovernmnet that implements the law in the country. The legislatibe branch is authorized to make the law, and it is judicial branch of the government that interprets the law of the land. In this way, judiciary plays an important role in the smooth functioning of the society. Countries need a legal framework to run the affairs of the state and that poliotcal document is called the constitution of the state. In the same way, US constitution is the landmark political document in the world. It is the constitution which is still relevant in modern world after around 250 years of its inception. The whole American nation takes pride in its supreme constitution which is the masterpiece of its early leaders such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. However, the credit of its applicability in this globalized world of twenty-first century goes to the supreme court of United States which has played a key role in adopting law of the country to the modern trends. Since United States of America is the federation og fifty states, so there are two tiers of judiciary in the country: federal level and state level. Every state has its own state constitution as well which is implemented by the state courts. Throughout American history, there have been several civil and criminal cases that illustrated the vital contribution of the courts in the welfare of the people and the country in general. In this context, the landmark civil case of Brown v. Board of Education is one such historical decision that left a great impact on US society. For some people in the country, it is one of the most controversial cases as well. Nevertheless, without a shadow of doubt, it is the case which is counted as the most significant in American judicial history.
The Civil Case-Brown v. Board of Education
Facts makes the law and rulings. If there is some change in the facts, court verdicts get changed accordingly. Hence, no one deny the importance of facts in a legal battle. This case of Brown v. Board of education (1954) is the most significant case of the Us judicial system. It is the civil case which highlighted the intricacies in judicial system for the African –Americans. The seminal facts of the case explains that rigid segregation was evident in 1950s where black people were not allowed to share the level of prosperity as shared by their while counterparts. Every sector of life was reflecting this sense of separatism between white and black population and this public-sector education was inclusive even. To cut it short, black people had poverty, lack of education and less jobs. Thus, this case in Topeka, Kansas is another episode in the saga of miserable life of black people. It was about a little girl Brown who was a black citizen of United States. She was living in a remote area and there were no adequate educational facilities for black people there. So, the little child was facing problem in getting education. This tragic state of affairs made her parents to file a case in supreme court for the right of education for black people. As a result, the legal proceeedings led to the landmark decision of desegregation in public education ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"DubmITQ5","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Carson, 2004)","plainCitation":"(Carson, 2004)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":194,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/E3CWW2HE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/E3CWW2HE"],"itemData":{"id":194,"type":"article-journal","title":"Two Cheers for Brown v. Board of Education","container-title":"Journal of American History","page":"26-31","volume":"91","issue":"1","source":"academic.oup.com","abstract":"My gratuitous opinion of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) is somewhat ambivalent and certainly arrives too late to alter the racial policies of the past fifty","DOI":"10.2307/3659610","ISSN":"0021-8723","journalAbbreviation":"J Am Hist","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Carson","given":"Clayborne"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004",6,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Carson, 2004).
Civil rights for black population have always been tragic in the United States. The situation was even worse in the past. Throughout the American history, several notable cases surfaced concerning the rights for colored people. Moreover, this was the underlying issue in American Civil war that lasted for four years. When this case appered on the political landscape of the country, the Jim Crow laws were widley practiced in the country nad more significantly in the southern states of United States of America. These laws were about the de –facto segregation of colored people from every public facility. Moreover, the predecessor civil case Plessy v. Ferguson (!896) also upheld the old precedent of inferiority of black people. In this case, ssupreme court established the new fact of “Separate but Equal” for colored people. Thus, when this case Brown v. Borad of Education appeared and heared in the court, it shunned the old law of separate but equal rights for black people in America and gave birth to desegregation in the American society ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"oiZqoV5i","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Patterson, 2004)","plainCitation":"(Patterson, 2004)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":192,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QIZF9E7Y"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QIZF9E7Y"],"itemData":{"id":192,"type":"article-journal","title":"Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement","container-title":"Stetson Law Review","page":"413","volume":"34","journalAbbreviation":"Stetson L. Rev.","author":[{"family":"Patterson","given":"James T."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]],"season":"2005"}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Patterson, 2004).
This case of Brown v. Borad of Education was a watershed moment in the political and judicial history, but it did not lead to immediate desegregation in the country. Inadequate penalties were the reason because massive resistance was coming from south. Instead of desegregating schools, several counties decided to shut them such as in Virginia or Alabama states. For the immediate effect, the supreme court could have asked the governors to implement the verdict immediately.
The legal battle of Brown v. Board of Education was heard in the supreme court of United States. State courts do not have much jurisdiction over matters that are more urgent or more general in nature. This problem of civil rights for colored people was more of a problem that exitsed in various counties and dispersed location in the US. So, the parents of the Brown decided to knock at the supreme court for justice. It was totally necessary for the federal court to hear this case as states were influenced by their own petty ambitions. This limited version was not healthy for the properisty and stability of the whole country. As judges in the court represent the whole nation without any discrimination, so Brown v. Board of education was rightly discussed in the jurisdiction of the supreme court.
The outcome of the Brown v. Borad of Education was such that it really assuaged the black people. They were somehow relieved after many years of hardships. Ever since the inception, they were treated as inferior citizens in the society. They were considered merely commordities, and there were no rights for them. They were the main source of labor in the United States in pre-civil war America. Though, this tragedy of black people were somehow countered with the civil rights amendments. However, the plight of black people was yet continuing in the American society. It was de facto segregation in the southern states. They are were not allowing the black to share public facilities. As a result, this case totally rooted out the menace of this injustice prevailing in the form of segregation. The judge Earl Warren delievered the unanimous decision of desegregation in education, and went against the precedent of separate, but equal rights.
The outcome of the case Brown v. Borad of Education was justified in many aspects. At first, the American constitution calls for equality, liberty and pursuit of happiness for all. It does not really discriminate any race in that aspect. Blacks have always been the part of the American nation since its colonial times. It was not appropriate to neglect such major chunk of the population in public life. Secondly, the old concept of separate but equal rights was notorious in essence. It was dividing the American nation once again. It was mandatory to shun it once and for all. The due process clause and all the other civil rights amendment called for no discrimination on the part of states. However, states were impelemnting de facto segregation as a part of their law in their territory. Consequently, when supreme court judge decided to end this menace, he was prudent in his decision. Besides, the desegregation was much opportune and in-line with that time and it’s now calling for more of it in the higher education as discussed in the ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"eOHU1Hyg","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Smith, Altbach, & Lomotey, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Smith, Altbach, & Lomotey, 2012)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":196,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QWLF6P6A"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QWLF6P6A"],"itemData":{"id":196,"type":"book","title":"Racial Crisis in American Higher Education, The: Continuing Challenges for the Twenty-first Century, Revised Edition","publisher":"SUNY Press","number-of-pages":"335","source":"Google Books","abstract":"“Why is it that as we enter the twenty-first century, the nation’s predominantly white colleges and universities continue to be settings where people of color feel unwelcome and marginalized? The contributors to this volume dissect a variety of structural and attitudinal factors that are prevalent in the higher education community, organizational constructs and value orientations which seem to hark more to the past than to the future. They comment on the political, social, and economic factors that have shaped academic culture, and buttressed its quietly efficient maintenance of racially discriminatory practices.“The American system of higher education is often regarded as the best in the world. Smith, Altbach, and Lomotey have edited a volume that implicitly asks how much better still it could be if it embraced people of color and provided them with a supportive and nurturing environment, one which encouraged them to reach their fullest creative and intellectual potential. Indeed, this will probably be the most significant challenge that the academy faces in the twenty-first century.” — William B. Harvey, Vice President and Director, Office of Minorities in Higher Education American Council on Education, Washington, D.C.","ISBN":"978-0-7914-8937-6","note":"Google-Books-ID: oVVGwXYE_dgC","title-short":"Racial Crisis in American Higher Education, The","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Smith","given":"William A."},{"family":"Altbach","given":"Philip G."},{"family":"Lomotey","given":"Kofi"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012",2,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Smith, Altbach, & Lomotey, 2012)
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it can be concluded from the above discussion that this civil case of Brown v. Board of Education is a milestone achievement for the judicial system of the country. It stood for what was right in the face of opposition. Besides, it negated the old principles of commodity and separate but equal rights for blacks. It transformed the judicial branch of the government to an extent that there were no more discriminatory practices in the interpretation of law. It put the state courts in-line with the constitution of the state in nature and substance. Furthermore, it alleviated the sufferings of the black people in American society, amd they were given their due status in public facilities. This Brown v. Board of Education negated the outdated and distorted notion of the American society that were duly applied in the American judicial system. Though there have been several other historical cases in the US history, but without a shadow of doubt, this was the first landmark judicial verdict that started the process of desegrartion in America.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Carson, C. (2004). Two Cheers for Brown v. Board of Education. Journal of American History, 91(1), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/3659610
Patterson, J. T. (2004). Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement. Stetson Law Review, 34, 413.
Smith, W. A., Altbach, P. G., & Lomotey, K. (2012). Racial Crisis in American Higher Education, The: Continuing Challenges for the Twenty-first Century, Revised Edition. SUNY Press.
