Equal_Protection_and_Public_Education__POS_500.docx POS 500 Equal Protection and Public

Equal_Protection_and_Public_Education__POS_500.docx  POS 500  Equal Protection and Public Education   Grand Canyon University   POS 500  The equal protection clause within the 14th Amendment refers to the idea that the government may not deny any person equal protection of the laws. The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment was originally intended to protect African American citizens who were newly freed slaves. However, this clause did not protect African American students from being forced to attend segregated schools. In 1952 Brown v. Board of Education was brought to the United States supreme court fighting for the desegregation of public schools. It was argued that based on sociological tests, segregated school systems made black children feel inferior to white children and therefore should not be legal (US Courts, n.d.).   Although the 14th Amendment and equal protection clause was originally intended to protect African Americans in the United States and within education in 1982 the Supreme Court also ruled it was unconstitutional to deny students a free education based on their immigration status (American Immigration Council, 2017). In 1975, the Texas Legislature approved schools to deny public education to students who were not “legally admitted” to the United States (American Immigration Council, 2017).  Tyler Independent School District adopted a policy to require immigrant students to pay tuition if they were not a legal citizen of the United states or were not in the process of becoming a legal citizen