Judge Harlin Dissenting Opinion

Judge Harlin wrote his dissent because he knew that the court had made a mistake, it is as simple as that. He believed that the correct decision lied within parts of the constitution that were not seen in the correct light during this case. I believe that by writing this dissent and not keeping this to himself Judge Harlin wanted to make it very clear that he did not agree with the decision that the court had come up with and that he believed that Plessy's rights were violated according to the fourteenth amendment of the constitution.

Judge Harlin does make a very good argument by stating that the fourteenth amendment had the laws in the states must be the same for both black and whites. Also that there shall be no discrimination against them by law due to the color of their skin. In 1896 this type of statement would be very controversial considering that this is not the opinion that had decided the court case. Most people would have disagreed with Harlin's dissent and would back the original decision that the court had come up with. In today's world, there would have been a very different reaction, 95% of people would completely agree with Harlin's statement and if this were to happen today Plessy would have won the case, dropping all charges.

Many things have changed from 1896 to now concerning discriminating against somebody due to the color of their skin. The main thing that made this happen was time, I think that people began to realize that it is not morally correct to discriminate against people due to the color of their skin. I think that his dissent does shed much light on how far our laws have evolved over the centuries. The law is still the same and now his dissent would be considered the right answer and the original court case would be considered incorrect. I think that this shows how far our country and our laws have come over the past hundred or so years.