Hundreds of dissenting opinions have been given throughout the Supreme Court’s existence. Here are a few examples of dissents whose words made an impression on American politics and society today.
Figure 3. Dissenting Opinion Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress), CC-PD-Mark, Wikimedia Commons
Figure 3. Dissenting Opinion Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress), CC-PD-Mark, Wikimedia Commons
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Homer Plessy, a man who was 1/8th black, was arrested for sitting in an all-white railcar. Plessy argued that his rights were violated under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy, stating that separate but equal did not violate Plessy’s rights.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote:
In the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law."
Fifty years after his dissent, his framework was used to overturn the Ferguson case in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which effectively eliminated the doctrine of "separate but equal."
Justice John Marshall Harlan is considered The Great Dissenter because he dissented on many cases that would restrict civil rights, such as the Plessy v. Ferguson. However, Antonin Scalia, who served from 1986 to 2016, is considered the best dissenter in the Supreme Court due to the fiery tone of his dissents.
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
The Supreme Court, in this case, mainly held that the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor was not unconstitutional because, in times of war, the protection of the United States from espionage outweighed individual rights. Three justices dissented, including justice Frank Murphy, who stated:
I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting, but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and necessarily a part of the new and distinct civilization of the United States. They must, accordingly, be treated at all times as the heirs of the American experiment, and as entitled to all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution."
The ruling of the Supreme Court was overturned in 1983, in which documents came to light showing that there was no national security threat from Japanese-Americans, vindicating the dissenters in this case.
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