I think it was excellent law. The 14th Amendment said that the Supreme Court is obligated to rule on state and local violations of the federal constitution. The federal constitution calls for 'equal protection under law' and this case showed that segregation was not 'seperate but equal'- it is inherently unequal.

For the purpose of issuing a ruling with no dissents this decision ends up being one of the most mangled exercises in jurisprudence ever handed down by the bench. Now no one is denying that the purpose- the result- was morally commendable. This however doesn't excuse the wholly unnecessary foray into socio-psycho-babble jurisprudence that extends the authority of the judiciary into parts unknown. Segregation is unconstitutional because it causes a detrimental effect on blacks? So if it didn't then segregation would be constitutional? Segregation generates a feeling of inferiority amongst blacks. Really? How did the black students have any idea what the white schools were like? And if they had no knowledge what exactly about school segregation made them feel inferior? And if it could be proven that segregation made blacks feel superior then it would be constitutional? In reality the only statement in this whole decision that makes any sense and should have predicated the decision in whole was that separate but equal is inherently unequal and therefore is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This decision exceeded the jurisdiction of constitutional authority in a case it had the moral justification for simply ruling on the law as it is written. Moral ends yes but bad law.

My only question is why in the world did it take them so long! Of course, I still can't believe one of my grandmothers couldn't vote until she was 34 years old. Some laws are just plain sToOpiD.

A good decision on the surface, but the real question is the constitutional right of the government to own and operate public schools in the first place.

This was a huge one. It was avant-garde in that it allowed the integration of schools. Lost in the mix were the kids that had to go to school under brutal and hostile conditions in Topeka.

A landmark decision which declared that separation of the races in public schools was unconstitutional. This was the first major step towards the Civil Rights legislation that was enacted in 1964 and 1965- this was the first major step towards equality for all people, whether they be black or white.