Supreme Court Rules School Segregation Unconstitutional in Brown v. Board

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously 9-0 in Brown v. Board of Education that state-mandated racial segregation in public schools violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," overturning Plessy v. Ferguson's 1896 "separate but equal" doctrine. The ruling laid the foundation for federal civil rights enforcement in education and made local schooling a constitutional concern.