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Constitutional Law Keyed to Barnett
Plessy v. Ferguson
Citation:
163 U.S. 537 (1896)Facts
In 1890, Louisiana passed a law requiring white passengers and passengers of color to ride in separate rail cars, but required that the cars be “equal but separate” in quality. Violating the law was punishable by a fine or up to twenty days in prison. Petitioner Plessy was a passenger of color who sat in a vacant rail car reserved for white passengers; when train officers requested that he move to the rail car reserved for passengers of color, he refused and was removed from the train and imprisoned. Plessy argued that the law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
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