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How did the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson interpret the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause?

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Plessy v. Ferguson judgment — Plessy v. Ferguson *Plessy* v. *Ferguson* judgment, issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 18, 1896, advancing the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.

In the majority opinion for Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause as a mandate for legal equality rather than social equality.1

Writing for the majority, Justice Henry Billings Brown argued that the amendment was intended to ensure that African Americans and whites held the same civil and political rights, but it did not require the two races to commingle in public spaces. The Court reasoned that as long as the facilities provided for each race were equal, the law did not imply the legal inferiority of either group.12

The majority further contended that social equality could not be created by legislation, as it depended on the voluntary consent of individuals and the natural affinities of the races. Consequently, the Court ruled that state-mandated racial segregation was a reasonable exercise of the state's police power to maintain public order, provided the accommodations were separate but equal.12