In the 1956 “Southern Manifesto,” the authors assert that Chief Justice Earl Warren and other members of the Supreme Court overstepped their judicial authority to become legislators in their decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Let's look at this in more detail to help you understand the point the authors are making.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court, and in fact the whole judicial branch, is in charge of making sure that laws are constitutional, that they adhere to the Constitution. The legislative branch is to make those laws, and the state legislatures have their role in making laws for the people of their states.

The authors of the Manifesto claim that in the decision in question, the Court is actually exercising legislative power and thereby abusing its judicial power. There is nothing in the Constitution about education, and the 14th Amendment does not refer to education. Therefore, the power to regulate education falls to the states. By ruling about education, the Court is encroaching upon the powers left to the states and thereby essentially setting up a law that the states must follow. Yet the Court is not supposed to make laws, and according to the Manifesto's authors, this is a violation of the constitutional order.