Business Law Course, Bba 3210 Unit I Assessment

Briefing Paper 1: Critical Legal Thinking

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This paper was prepared for Business Law Course, BBA 3210-13N, taught by Professor Name

Abstract

Facts of the Case “Equal Protection Clause”

In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was added to the United States Constitution which included the Equal Protection Clause. The Equal Protection Clause “provides that no state shall deny to any persons within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law” as it did in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, and not Plessy v. Ferguson (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 5). However, the Equal Protection Clause is not expected to provide "equality" among people or classes but only to apply the law equally.

What does the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provide?

The Equal Protection Clause as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, prevent states from denying people or corporation that is within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. That means the state laws will give its people or corporation similar treatment as others under the same conditions and circumstances. An example of the Equal Protection Clause violation would be, whenever a state makes it forbidden for an individual to enter into an employment contract because that person belongs to a certain race. Because it denies states the right to discriminate, the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution is crucial to the protection of everyone civil rights. (Cheeseman, 2013, pp 100-101)

Was the Equal Protection Clause properly applied in the early U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson?

The Equal Protection Clause was not properly applied in the early Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson. When the Court rejected Plessy’s Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment arguments, they instead put a stamp of approval on the doctrine of...