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Separate But Equal Legacy of Chief Justice Bill Rehnquist
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by Dr. Michael A. S. Guth
On this 50th anniversary of the crowning achievement of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the unanimous decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case ending segregation in public schools, it is fitting to consider the important legacy of Brown and see just how far we have come. In terms of educational institutions, public universities in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and the rest of the country that were once all-White are now racially integrated. Yet America remains racially polarized and divided at times. We saw evidence of that polarization in the typical Black American’s reaction and the typical White American’s reaction to the verdict in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial.
Elsewhere, most White Americans have no idea that Chief Justice Bill Rehnquist, while he served as a law clerk to Justice Robert Jackson in 1952-53, wrote a legal memo defending the old and reviled "separate but equal" doctrine. But Black Americans are well aware that Rehnquist espoused beliefs that would have kept them out of public schools, out of public colleges and universities, using filthy and cracked public toilets, drinking out of separate water fountains, etc.
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17 May 2005 by LawKit
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