US Supreme Court Cases Practice Test 2026 - Free Supreme Court Practice Questions and Study Guide

The impact of Plessy v. Ferguson was to legitimize racial segregation by endorsing the “separate but equal” doctrine. The Court held that state laws establishing separate facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection as long as the separate facilities were purportedly equal in quality. In practice, this gave legal cover to Jim Crow laws and allowed governments to maintain segregated schools, transit, restrooms, and other public facilities for decades, entrenching discrimination rather than ending it.

This ruling shaped constitutional law for a long period, delaying civil rights progress. It wasn't until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that the Court rejected the notion that separate could ever be equal in the context of public education, and it signaled a broader rejection of segregation in principle.

The other options describe actions or doctrines not connected to Plessy: it did not end segregation, it did not establish the incorporation doctrine, and it did not invalidate the Missouri Compromise.