Question

Match the Supreme Court case and decision with whether the case was a display of Supreme Court judicial restraint or judicial activism - make sure to label the case name first!

Plessy v Ferguson

Leaves decisions up to states, making Separate but Equal doctrines tacitly allowed throughout the United States

Brown v Board of Education

Draws on Constitutional demands for equality, taking autonomy away from State Governments to outlaw segregation

Answer 1

Plessy v. Ferguson: Judicial restraint — the Court deferred to state authority by upholding “separate but equal,” leaving segregation policy to the states rather than imposing a constitutional ban.

Brown v. Board of Education: Judicial activism — the Court invoked the Equal Protection Clause to overturn state-sanctioned segregation (and the Plessy precedent), actively directing desegregation.