Brown v. Board of Education

Appellants

Several parents of African American children of elementary school age in Topeka, Kansas

Appellee

Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Appellants' Claim

That the segregation of white and African American children in the public schools of Topeka solely on the basis of race denied the African American children equal protection under the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Lawyers for Appellants

Robert L. Carter, Thurgood Marshall, Spottswood W. Robinson, Charles S. Scott

Chief Lawyers for Appellees

Harold R. Fatzer, Paul E. Wilson

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black, Harold Burton, Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson, Sherman Minton, Stanley Forman Reed, Earl Warren

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

17 May 1954

Decision

Segregated schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sources

Langran, Robert W. "Why Are Some Supreme Court Justices Rated as `Failures?'" Supreme Court Historical Society, http://metalab.unc.edu.