Missouri+ex+rel.+Gaines+v.+Canada

=Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada= 305 U.S. 337 (1938)

In this case, the plaintiff applied to the law school at the University of Missouri, an all-white school. Missouri had no law school which blacks could attend. There was a state statute authorizing the University to arrange for African Americans to attend a school that accepted blacks in an adjacent state with tuition paid, provided that the all-black Lincoln University did not provide the desired course of study. Several adjacent states admitted out-of-states to their law schools, and therefore plaintiff could have tuition paid to an out-of-state law school under Missouri's statute.

On the basis of the statute, plaintiff was denied admission to the University of Missouri Law School, and he challenged the denial on equal protection grounds. The Court found that it "must regard the question whether the provision for the legal education in other States of negroes resident in Missouri is sufficient to satisfy the constitutional requirement of equal protection" as the "pivot" on which the case turned.

The Court set aside any discussion of whether the out-of-state programs available to the plaintiff were equivalent to the University's, or whether plaintiff would be afforded as good of an opportunity at one of those schools. The point was instead "what opportunities Missouri itself furnishe[d] to white students and denie[d] to negroes solely on the grounds of color."

The opinion suggested that Missouri was not required to provide legal training at all, or legal training of a certain quality. If it chose to provide it, however, it was bound not to deny African Americans the opportunity to study law solely on the basis of color:

"That is a denial of the equality of legal right to the enjoyment of the privilege which the State has set up, and the provision for the payment of tuition fees in another State does not remove the discrimination."

The Court thus held that each state is responsible for its own behavior. Unequal treatment cannot be justified because of an opportunity available in another state.

The Court also emphasized that the plaintiff's right was a personal one, and whether or not other African Americans sought the same opportunity was irrelevant.

In the aftermath of this ruling, it is interesting to note that instead of beginning to admit blacks to the University's law school, Missouri instead promptly set up a law school solely for black students.