Which doctrine established by earlier court decisions was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education?

• A. Roe v. Wade
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Dred Scott v. Sandford
• D. Marbury v. Madison

Answer: (B)

The key idea is how equal protection applies to public schooling and why segregation by race cannot be justified. Brown v. Board of Education held that separating students in public schools based on race is inherently unequal, so the longstanding “separate but equal” standard cannot be used to justify school segregation. This directly overturned the earlier doctrine that allowed segregated facilities to be considered equal in practice, a standard established by Plessy v. Ferguson.

Roe v. Wade, by contrast, deals with abortion rights. Dred Scott v. Sandford addressed citizenship and slavery, not schooling. Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review. None of these cases overturned Brown in the way Brown overturned the school-segregation doctrine.