The Fourteenth Amendment was enforced in the U.S. Constitution to protect all citizens of color and status equal rights and protection of the laws. History shows America has not always used this important amendment in its righteous way. The Westminster and Brown case impacted America and the fight to stop discrimination on behalf of minority citizens. The American people manipulated the Fourteenth Amendment to allow equal rights in the form of “separate but equal.” The Westminster case brought attention to segregation in the California school districts toward children of Mexican descent. The Brown case brought attention to the Courts that segregated school facilities are not equal and in fact has a detrimental affect in Negro children. Below I will discuss the two cases and list the four factors.
Westminster was a federal court case that …show more content…
The Federal Court ruled regarding the state law that segregation of children of Mexican descent in separate schools is not authorized by California statutes. Education Code, Section 8003, 8004, 16004, 16005, 16601. The acts of the California school district officials were performed under “color of state law.”
The role of social and political influences on the Federal Court decision came from Thurgood Marshall, who wrote the NAACP’s friend of the court brief for the case. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American Jewish Congress, American Civil Liberties Union, and the Japanese American Citizens League were several multiracial organizations that represented as the plaintiff’s counsellor. Without these influences the case would probably not have been as successful.
The impact segregation had on the Federal Court was that is raised questions on whether segregation violates civil