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Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens… — John Marshall Harlan

Supreme Court opinion · Legal opinion · Dissenting opinion · Legal writing

Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful.

John Marshall Harlan
Plessy v. Ferguson · 1896
★ 3.7
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Citation
Harlan, John Marshall. Dissenting Opinion. Plessy v. Ferguson. United States Reports, vol. 163, 18 May 1896, pp. 552-564. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/163/537/.

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The arbitrary separation of citizens on the basis of race while they are on a public highway is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution... We boast of the freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state of the law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow citizens, our equals before the law. The thin disguise of "equal" accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, nor atone for the wrong this day done.

John Marshall Harlan
Plessy v. Ferguson · 1896
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