| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Plessy, who appears for all intents and purposes to look white, sat in a white seat on a coach. He was ordered to leave, and go to the colored section, refused to comply, was ejected, arrested, and charged with violating a LA act providing for separate railway carriages for white and colored races. |
| Posture: | Judgment for defendant in the court below |
| Issue: | Is the act constitutional? |
| Holding: | Yes. Affirmed. |
| Rule: | A statute is reasonable if it is in harmony with the established usages, customs and traditions of the people with a view to promotion of their comfort and the preservation of the public peace and good order. |
| Reasoning: | 14A purports to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but it can't possibly do that. |
| Dicta: | Harlan (dissenting): Everyone knows that the purpose of this law was to exclude colored people from white cars, not the other way around. If white and black people choose to ride together, the government can't prevent it without infringing on their personal liberties. |