''Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education'', 175 U.S. 528 (1899), ("Richmond") was a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

suit decided by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. It is a

landmark case Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...

, in that it sanctioned ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' segregation of races in American schools. The decision was overruled by ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregat ...

'' (1954)..

About the case

The plaintiffs, "Cumming, Harper and Ladeveze, citizens of Georgia and persons of color suing on behalf of themselves and all others in like case joining with them," originally filed suit by petition against the Board of Education of Richmond County (the "Board") and one "Charles S. Bohler, tax collector" in the Superior Court of Richmond County, claiming, among other causes of action, that a $45,000 tax levied against the county for primary, intermediate, grammar, and high schools was illegal insofar as the high schools of the county were exclusively for white students and seeking an injunction barring the collection of so much of the total amount as was earmarked for the white only high school system. County was reversed upon the ground that it erred in granting an injunction against the Board of Education. In accordance with that decision, the Superior Court upon the return of the cause from the Supreme Court of the State, refused the relief asked by the plaintiffs, and dismissed their petition. Thereafter, the plaintiffs appealed that order to the US Supreme Court as being in derogation of their rights under the US Constitution.

Decision

The Supreme Court affirmed on economic arguments, among others. It claimed that there are many more colored children than white children in the area and that the Board could not afford to supply everyone with education. The court reasoned that there was a choice between educating 60 white children and educating no one. The Supreme Court denied that it had any jurisdiction to interfere in the decisions of the state courts. The decision states in pertinent part: The final remark says: Justice

John Marshall Harlan John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Dissenter" due to his ...

, who was the lone dissenter in ''

Plessy v. Ferguson ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality ...

'', wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.

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* * {{US14thAmendment, equalprotection United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court School segregation in the United States United States equal protection case law United States school desegregation case law 1899 in United States case law History of Augusta, Georgia 1899 in education 1899 in Georgia (U.S. state) Legal history of Georgia (U.S. state) Education in Richmond County, Georgia African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement Civil rights movement case law African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state)

About the case

Decision

See also

References

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External links