Berea College v. Kentucky

Supreme Court of United States
211 U.S. 45 (1908)

ELI5:

Rule of Law:

A state may prohibit a state-chartered private educational corporation from instructing students of different races at the same time and in the same place, as this is a valid exercise of the state's reserved power to amend corporate charters.

Facts:

Berea College was incorporated as a private educational institution under the general statutes of Kentucky.
The college's charter was subject to the Kentucky General Assembly's reserved power to alter or amend it.
The college's stated object was 'the education of all persons who may attend its institution of learning.'
Berea College operated as an integrated institution, admitting and teaching both white and Black students.
In 1904, the Kentucky legislature passed an act making it unlawful for any person, corporation, or association to operate a school where both white and 'negro' persons were received as pupils for instruction.

Procedural Posture:

Berea College was criminally charged in a Kentucky state trial court for violating the 1904 act prohibiting integrated schooling.
The trial court overruled the college's legal objections, and after a trial, Berea College was convicted and fined.
Berea College, as the appellant, appealed the conviction to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, the state's highest court.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment, upholding the statute's constitutionality.
Berea College then sought review of this decision from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Premium Content

Subscribe to Lexplug to view the complete brief

You're viewing a preview with Rule of Law, Facts, and Procedural Posture

Issue:

Does a state law that prohibits a private educational corporation from teaching white and Black students together violate the Federal Constitution?

Opinions:

Majority - Justice Brewer

No, the state law does not violate the Federal Constitution as applied to a state-chartered corporation. A state has broad authority to regulate the corporations it creates, and Kentucky expressly reserved the power to amend corporate charters. The statute, which requires the separation of students by race, functions as a valid amendment to Berea College's charter. This amendment does not 'defeat or substantially impair the object of the grant'—which is to provide education—but merely alters the manner in which the college may operate. Because the statute is separable, the court can uphold its application to corporations without deciding its constitutionality as applied to individuals.

Dissenting - Justice Harlan

Yes, the state law violates the Federal Constitution. The majority improperly avoids the central constitutional question by narrowly focusing on corporate power. The statute's clear and inseparable purpose was to prohibit integrated education by anyone, and it is illogical to assume the legislature would have banned it for corporations while permitting it for individuals. The law is an 'arbitrary invasion of the rights of liberty and property guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment' because it interferes with the fundamental right to impart and receive instruction based solely on racial prejudice. If this law is upheld, a state could similarly prohibit interracial assembly in churches, Sabbath schools, or any other private setting for innocent purposes.

Analysis:

This decision demonstrates the Supreme Court's use of narrow legal reasoning to uphold state-mandated segregation during the Plessy era. By framing the issue as one of state power over corporate charters rather than individual rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court avoided a direct ruling on the constitutionality of enforced segregation in private education. This case is significant for its application of the severability doctrine, allowing the Court to validate the portion of a law applying to corporations while ignoring the more constitutionally problematic application to individuals. It represents a judicial willingness to permit the extension of segregationist policies into the private sphere through the mechanism of corporate regulation.

Gunnerbot

AI-powered case assistant

Loaded: Berea College v. Kentucky (1908)

Try: "What was the holding?" or "Explain the dissent"

Premium Feature