Home > Great American Court Cases > Plessy v. Ferguson

Legal Citation: 163 U.S. 537 (1896)

Petitioner
Homer A. Plessy

Respondent
J. H. Ferguson, New Orleans Criminal District Court Judge

Petitioner's Claim
That Louisiana's law requiring blacks to ride in separate railroad cars violated Plessy's right to equal protection under the law.

Chief Lawyers for Petitioner
F. D. McKenney, S. F. Phillips

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
M. J. Cunningham, Louisiana Attorney General

Justices for the Court
Henry Billings Brown (writing for the Court), Stephen Johnson Field, Melville Weston Fuller, Horace Gray, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, George Shiras, Jr., Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting
John Marshall Harlan I (David Josiah Brewer did not participate)

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
18 May 1896

Decision
That laws...