The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. Virginia that state segregation laws could not be applied to interstate bus travel, a landmark civil rights victory.
On June 3, 1946, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Morgan v. Virginia, ruling 6-1 that Virginia's law requiring racial segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional because it placed an undue burden on interstate commerce, which fell under exclusive federal jurisdiction according to the Commerce Clause.
Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion, holding that a patchwork of differing state segregation laws would create chaos for interstate travel and companies, as passengers would need to constantly rearrange seating as they crossed state lines. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund had argued the case on Morgan's behalf, marking one of Marshall's early major victories before he would go on to argue Brown v. Board of Education and later become the first African American Supreme Court Justice.
This ruling was a genuine legal first: it was the first time the Supreme Court struck down segregation specifically in the context of interstate transportation, establishing crucial precedent. Although the ruling did not end segregation on intrastate travel, it directly inspired the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, an early Freedom Ride organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to test compliance with the decision across the South.
The case's impact echoed for years afterward, providing legal grounding cited in later civil rights battles, including the 1960 Freedom Rides that tested the enforcement of this very ruling. Morgan's willingness to challenge her arrest ultimately reshaped the legal landscape of American civil rights.