Legal Arguments in the 1956 Southern Manifesto
Yale University law Professor Justin Driver talked about the 1956 “Southern Manifesto,” a document written by congressional members opposed to the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. He discussed the legal arguments that the authors used to challenge the ruling.
Description
Yale University law Professor Justin Driver talked about the 1956 “Southern Manifesto,” a document written by congressional members opposed to the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. He discussed the legal arguments that the authors used to challenge the ruling.
Bell Ringer Assignment
- How did the Southern Manifesto use the Fourteenth Amendment to argue against Brown v. Board of Education?
- How did the Southern Manifesto use the text of the Constitution to argue against Brown v. Board of Education? What are counterarguments to this?
- In what ways did the Southern Manifesto use prior Supreme Court rulings to support their opposition to Brown v. Board of Education?
- What constitutional arguments were used in the Southern Manifesto?
- According to the Southern Manifesto, what were potential consequences of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision?
- What types of arguments were generally avoided in the Southern Manifesto? Why do you think that was?
Additional Resources
Participants
Vocabulary
- Brown V. Board Of Education
- Cliché
- Constitutional Amendment
- Ethos
- Federalism
- Gong Lum V. Rice
- Integration
- Originalism
- Plessy V. Ferguson
- Precedent
- Prudential
- Segregation
- Southern Manifesto
- Supreme Court
- Textualist