Bolling v. Sharpe

Bolling v. Sharpe

Bolling v. Sharpe was a landmark United States Supreme Court case decided on May 17, 1954. The case is significant for its role in the desegregation of public schools in Washington, D.C., and for its interpretation of the Fifth Amendment.

Background

In the early 1950s, public schools in Washington, D.C., were segregated by race. African American students were denied admission to schools attended by white students. This segregation was challenged in the case of Bolling v. Sharpe, which was one of the five cases combined into the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education.

The case was brought by a group of African American parents on behalf of their children, who were denied admission to the newly constructed John Philip Sousa Junior High School, a school for white students. The parents argued that the segregation of schools in the District of Columbia violated the students' rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Legal Issues

The primary legal issue in Bolling v. Sharpe was whether the segregation of public schools in Washington, D.C., violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Unlike the states, which are bound by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the District of Columbia is governed by the Fifth Amendment, which does not contain an equal protection clause.

Supreme Court Decision

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren, held that racial segregation in the public schools of Washington, D.C., was unconstitutional. The Court reasoned that "discrimination may be so unjustifiable as to be violative of due process." The Court found that racial segregation in public education was an arbitrary deprivation of liberty in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The decision in Bolling v. Sharpe was announced on the same day as the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Significance

Bolling v. Sharpe is significant because it extended the principles of Brown v. Board of Education to the federal government and the District of Columbia. It established that the federal government, like the states, could not maintain racially segregated public schools.

The case also demonstrated the Supreme Court's willingness to interpret the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause as providing protections similar to those of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, thereby ensuring that the principles of equality and non-discrimination applied uniformly across the United States.

See Also

• Brown v. Board of Education
• Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Desegregation in the United States

References

• "Bolling v. Sharpe," 347 U.S. 497 (1954).
• Klarman, Michael J. "From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality." Oxford University Press, 2004.