C. What If...? Judicial review and specifically judicial activism have, in many cases,
expanded rights. Read about two landmark cases of judicial review and think about
how their rulings helped expand rights for all.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
In 1951, Oliver Brown tried to enroll his daughter in their
neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas. But because his
school district was segregated, and his daughter was Black,
the school turned him away. The Brown family, along with
12 other families, felt this was unfair. They filed a lawsuit
against the Topeka Board of Education. The case made it all
the way to the Supreme Court. The Court overturned their
previous judgment in Plessy v. Ferguson by ruling that
racially segregated schools were unequal and violated the
Constitution’s promise of equal protection.
What if the Court had stuck to its precedent?
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
In Florida, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking
and entering. In court, he asked the judge to assign him
a lawyer since he couldn’t afford to pay for one. The court
denied his request, and Gideon was sentenced to prison.
Florida law said that only a person facing the death penalty
could have a free, court-appointed lawyer. Gideon wrote a
letter to the Supreme Court claiming that his right to equal
protection and legal representation was violated. The Court
agreed. They ruled that courts must provide lawyers for
criminal defendants who cannot afford their own.
What if the Court had upheld Florida’s law?
