Plessy dissent

A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment.


Justice Harlan, in the Plessy V. Ferguson case of 1896, had a dissenting opinion of his own. His dissenting opinion was favoring the losing side of the argument. 


He wrote out on the losing side of the argument to possibly shed greater light on the winning side of the argument. Rather than keeping it to himself, I believe he wanted to inform the people of the losing side in addition to the winning side.


Plessy v. Ferguson - WikipediaHe does make a good argument for the losing side. People in 1896 would react to this much differently than if people reacted to it in 2020. Over 100 decades later, the world has changed significantly and the way people think about things is much different compared to how individuals thought back in 1896. 


We got from there to here because of the changes in the law. The change in laws changes the world and the world changes the way people think. I think his dissenting opinion sheds light on the path of the law.

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