Cooper v. Aaron

Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Following Brown v. Board of Education, the Little Rock, Arkansas school board adopted a desegregation plan. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent Black students from entering Central High School. President Eisenhower federalized the Guard to enforce the court order. The school board sought to delay desegregation due to public hostility.

Significance

A unanimous Court, in an extraordinary opinion signed by all nine justices individually, rejected the delay and reaffirmed Brown. The Court held that violent opposition to constitutional rights cannot justify suspending those rights. Crucially, the Court declared that its interpretation of the Constitution is binding on all state officials — ’the federal judiciary is supreme in the exposition of the law of the Constitution.’ This principle of judicial supremacy remains fundamental to American constitutional law.

Category

US Federal Case Law