Equal Protection and Brown v. Board of Education

The principle of equal protection under the law has been pivotal in many landmark cases in the United States. The Equal Protection Clause, found in the Fourteenth Amendment, states that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This principle is crucial in preventing discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, and sexual orientation.

In the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This case challenged the legality of segregation under the doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld the 'separate but equal' standard. The Brown decision was a significant step toward dismantling legal racial segregation in the United States.