Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education: The Great Dissenter's Great Betrayal

Authors

Mark Dorosin

Abstract

Justice John Marshall Harlan's place in legal history was established by his impassioned and eloquent dissents defending the civil rights of Black Americans in The Civil Rights Cases¹ and Plessy v. Ferguson.² The former slave owner's powerful and solitary dissents in those cases, and in several others regarding the Equal Protection Clause and the rights of Black Americans, established Harlan's reputation as a radical champion of civil rights. Those opinions are also credited with establishing the analytical foundation upon which the legal strategy to challenge segregation would eventually be built.

First Page

241

Recommended Citation

Mark Dorosin, Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education: The Great Dissenter's Great Betrayal, 62 Duq. L. Rev. 241 (2024).
Available at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr/vol62/iss2/2