Morgan v. Virginia

E76959

Morgan v. Virginia was a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down state laws mandating racial segregation on interstate buses, laying important groundwork for later civil rights actions.

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States Supreme Court case
civil rights case
desegregation case
areaOfLaw civil rights law
constitutional law
interstate commerce law
citation 328 U.S. 373
constitutionalProvisionInvolved Commerce Clause
surface form: Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment
surface form: Fourteenth Amendment (argued but not basis of holding)
country United States of America
surface form: United States
court Supreme Court of the United States
decisionDate 1946-06-03
dissentBy Justice Harold Hitz Burton NERFINISHED
Justice Robert H. Jackson (did not participate in majority)
enforcementMechanismStruckDown criminal penalties for refusing to comply with bus segregation law
hasParty Virginia
surface form: Commonwealth of Virginia

Irene Morgan
holding state laws requiring racial segregation on interstate buses are unconstitutional
state segregation laws that burden interstate commerce violate the Commerce Clause
impact laid groundwork for later civil rights litigation against segregation
limited states’ power to enforce segregation in interstate transportation
involvedLawyer Thurgood Marshall
William H. Hastie NERFINISHED
involvedOrganization NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
involvedPerson Irene Morgan
jurisdiction United States of America
surface form: United States
languageOfProceedings English
legalIssue constitutionality of state segregation laws in interstate commerce
racial segregation on interstate buses
locationOfOrigin Virginia
majorityOpinionBy Justice Stanley Forman Reed NERFINISHED
precedentFor Boynton v. Virginia
Freedom Riders actions in 1961
later desegregation of interstate transportation
reasoning a single state may not place an undue burden on interstate commerce through segregation requirements
relatedCase Boynton v. Virginia
Brown v. Board of Education
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
surface form: Plessy v. Ferguson
result Virginia statute mandating segregation on interstate buses struck down
shortDescription U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating state-mandated segregation on interstate buses
stateLawChallenged Virginia statute requiring racial segregation on interstate buses
status good law (as of 2024)
subjectOf U.S. constitutional law casebooks
civil rights scholarship
typeOfSegregationAddressed racial segregation in interstate bus travel
vote 7–1
yearDecided 1946

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Freedom Rides basedOnLegalDecision Morgan v. Virginia
Boynton v. Virginia relatedCase Morgan v. Virginia