In honor of the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education: In this case the United States Supreme Court took it upon itself to enforce the 14th Amendment by declaring separate could never be equal in the public school system.

This case definitively overruled Plessy vs. Ferguson and started the ball rolling toward racial equality in our country. Some people might call this judicial activism and, in fact, it probably was. But sometimes when the executive and legislative branches fall, the judicial branch must pick up the slack. While legislating from the bench can be problematic, it occasionally has been the best way to achieve justice.

In hindsight, Brown vs. Board of Education was the best way to topple segregation, and judicial activism in future cases will again be the sledgehammer to dismantle the traditions of bias. For example, Lawrence vs. Texas is controversial today, but tomorrow it may be celebrated as this decade's harbinger of justice.

Steven Seppi

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Sandy

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