14th Amendment used to challenge segregation for Mexican Americans.

14th Amendment used to challenge segregation for Mexican Americans.

• A. Brown v Board of Education
• B. Plessy v Ferguson
• C. Mendez v Westminster
• D. Sweatt v Painter

Answer: (C)

The 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause is used to argue that public schools cannot segregate students by ethnicity. In Mendez v Westminster, Mexican American families contended that sending their children to separate, Mexican-only schools in California violated equal protection. The court agreed, ruling that segregation based on nationality or ethnicity was unconstitutional and that Mexican American children should be integrated with white students. This decision rejected the notion of “separate but equal” for Mexican Americans in public schools and set a legal precedent for challenging segregation on the basis of ethnicity. Plessy v. Ferguson is the opposite in effect, upholding segregation under “separate but equal,” which is why it doesn’t fit the prompt. Sweatt v. Painter challenged segregation in higher education for African Americans, not Mexican Americans, and Brown v. Board of Education, while also using the 14th Amendment to end segregation in schools, targeted racial segregation more broadly and is not the specific case about Mexican American students.

The 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause is used to argue that public schools cannot segregate students by ethnicity.

In Mendez v Westminster, Mexican American families contended that sending their children to separate, Mexican-only schools in California violated equal protection. The court agreed, ruling that segregation based on nationality or ethnicity was unconstitutional and that Mexican American children should be integrated with white students. This decision rejected the notion of “separate but equal” for Mexican Americans in public schools and set a legal precedent for challenging segregation on the basis of ethnicity.

Plessy v. Ferguson is the opposite in effect, upholding segregation under “separate but equal,” which is why it doesn’t fit the prompt. Sweatt v. Painter challenged segregation in higher education for African Americans, not Mexican Americans, and Brown v. Board of Education, while also using the 14th Amendment to end segregation in schools, targeted racial segregation more broadly and is not the specific case about Mexican American students.