Plessy vs. Ferguson and the Crucial Role of Dissenting Opinions

In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, the case ruled 7-1 in favor of Ferguson, but the one vote in favor of Homer Plessy has become one of the most famous dissenting opinions in history. A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. When not necessarily referring to a legal decision, this can also be referred to as a minority report.

Many people, still to this day wonder why Judge John Marshall Harlan even bothered to give his opinion. In his own words it was because "We boast of the freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state of the law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow citizens, our equals before the law. The thin disguise of "equal" accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, nor atone for the wrong this day done" By putting these words out there rather than keeping it to himself Harlan planted a seed in some people's minds that the concept of "separate but equal" may really be "separate but not equal."

I think Harlan make a solid argument on the basis of the 14th Amendment and that "the law in the States shall be the same for the black as for the white; that all persons, whether colored or white, shall stand equal before the laws of the States, and, in regard to the colored race, for whose protection the amendment was primarily designed, that no discrimination shall be made against them by law because of their color." Many people in the 1890's were beginning to feel like African American were or should be equal but the majority still felt strongly about the principle of "separate but equal." Today a case such as this one would likely be ruled in favor of Homer Plessy due to the fact that we are a society based on equality for all people, not only race wise but sexuality, religion, and ethnicity.