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Equal Protection Clause

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Discrimination among the American people based on race, gender, and religion has been prevalent from the beginning of time. As discrimination has increased, Congress decided it was time to make a change so they implemented the Equal Protection Clause. Throughout this essay, I will explain the Equal Protection Clause, where the clause originated from, give example of the clause being applied to cases, and show how the clause is enforced today. The Equal Protection Clause is part of the United States Constitutions 14th amendment. In the Constitution, it states “nor shall any State…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Epstein and Walker). Meaning that the State must apply equal application of the law to …show more content…
Board of Education, this case was a consolidation of four other cases that dealt with the segregation in public schools. Specifically, in Brown v. Board of Education, Linda Carol Brown was an eight your old African American whom lived in a mostly white neighborhood and only lived a short distant from the all-white elementary school. As her parents wanted her to fulfill her education in an integrated school, she was denied acceptance. The reasoning for this is that under Kansas law, cities with populations of more than fifteen thousand were permitted to administer racially segregated schools, and the Topeka Board of Education required the elementary schools to be segregated (Epstein and Walker). The Brown family sued the board of education for violating their daughters right under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The supreme Court decision was unanimous and stated that segregation among the schools is unequal and violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth …show more content…
For instance, in the case of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District 2007. In the Seattle School District, students could choose what high school they wanted to attend. However, the district wanted to keep schools racially diverse, so they would choose students to attend a school based on their race Many parents felt t The Supreme Court ruled that yes, a school district that normally permits a student to attend the high school of their choice violate the Equal Protection Clause by denying the student admission to their chosen school because of there race to achieve a desired racial balance (Oyez). As the framers of the constitutions intent of the equal protection clause was for freed African American slaves, and other racial discrimination, I think the application of the clause should be extended. As a major issue now is equal rights for someone based on their sexuality the equal protection clause could be enforced again. For instance, I think the equal protection clause could extend to giving gays the right to marry. I think the court should rethink the reasoning for this clause because as times have changed so should the constitutions meaning. In conclusion, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment has made a huge impact on an immense amount of cases such as Plessy Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and recent cases such as Parents Involved in Community Schools

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