A Lasting Image

Over the past decade the U.S. Supreme Court has seen its public approval rating erode from 62% in 2001, to a new low of 49% entering 2013.  Public opinion polls are not exactly legitimate measurements for the Court and for good reasons.  Given the nature of the judicial branch's responsibility, the Supreme Court must be independent from opinion polls, unlike the executive or legislative branches.  The Court is viewed more and more through an ideological prism where the Justices are categorized based on which party's President appointed them, and although the Court has erred in past rulings and will disappoint both sides of the political spectrum in the future, one cannot overlook the Court rulings which have upheld the guiding principles of the Constitution in the face of unbridled opposition and ignorance.  Two images in particular I recently came across stand out and illustrate how the Supreme Court remains a beacon of hope to this day.

To the left is a picture of Mrs. Nettie Hunt and her daughter, Nickie, sitting on the steps of the Supreme Court the day after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling held school segregation to be unconstitutional.  Mrs. Hunt was able to explain to her daughter for the first time that the Supreme Court unanimously found racial school segregation in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and that she was no different from the white children across the nation.  From the birth of our country, African-American parents have been forced to explain to their children why society held them to a different standard, but in one sweeping ruling the Court validated the liberty of all American citizens, regardless of race.

 

One of the most remarkable aspects from the above picture is that only 24 hours earlier, Mrs. Hunt was unable to explain to her daughter why the equal protection of the laws laid forth in the Constitution did not apply to African-American children.  The Justices of the Court understood the implications of their ruling and took the unusual step to ensure a full majority opinion in an effort to deprive the opponents of desegregation any room for a valid counterargument.  When the Court announced their ruling for Brown v. Board of Education in May of 1954, an incredibly large portion of the country was still subjected to legal, racial-segregation in schools.

This map of the country illustrates the large number of states that legally required educational segregation in 1954, just prior to the Supreme Court ruling.  When coupled with the earlier picture of Mrs. Hunt and her daughter sitting on the steps of the Supreme Court, the ruling from Brown v. Board of Education stands out as a beacon of hope for all seeking equal justice under the law.