Lesson 1.4 – Justice John Marshall Harlan: The Great Dissenter

Nearly a century after Madison’s design, Washington’s example, and Henry’s cry, the Supreme Court faced one of its gravest tests. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Court upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” All but one justice joined.

Justice John Marshall Harlan stood alone. In his dissent, he wrote words that echo across time:

⭐ “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”

At a moment when public opinion and political power ran the other way, Harlan insisted that the Constitution must mean what it says — liberty and equality for all. He understood that rights do not depend on majority will or prevailing fashion.

His dissent laid the foundation for future victories, proving that a lone voice of principle can shape the course of justice. Harlan’s courage reminds us that the Constitution’s promises require guardians willing to resist the tide.

Modern guardians have taken up his mantle. Justice Gorsuch has insisted that courts cannot ignore precedent or bend law to ideology:

⭐ “Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this Court’s decisions, but they are never free to defy them.”

And Justice Thomas has likewise warned against treating any right as “second-class.” Together, they stand as heirs to Harlan’s example — willing to dissent, willing to defend principle against the pressures of power.

Today’s threats — socialism’s central control, dominionist theocracy, compelled gender ideology, bureaucratic overreach — each test whether we will defend equal liberty, or allow new classes and categories to divide Americans under the guise of ideology. Harlan’s warning still rings: the Constitution tolerates no caste system, no enforced creed.

From Madison’s structure, Washington’s restraint, Henry’s courage, and Harlan’s dissent, we turn now to the threats of our own time — ideologies that seek to capture the government and impose belief.