Glossary
| United States Supreme Court | | The judicial branch of the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court of appeals and has the power to overturn any court ruling in the country. The court has nine justices who are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Once approved, the justices serve for life. Over the last two centuries the U.S. Supreme Court has played a crucial role in the struggle for civil rights. With the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, the court officially sanctified racial segregation, stipulating that it was constitutional so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were “equal.” In 1954, in the historic Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the court reversed this ruling, officially ending Jim Crow and institutionalized racial segregation. |
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