What 1896 Supreme Court decision legalized segregation as long as facilities were deemed equal?

The 1896 Supreme Court decision that legalized segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal" is Plessy v. Ferguson. This landmark case arose when Homer Plessy, who was of mixed race, was arrested for sitting in a "whites only" railroad car in Louisiana. The Court ruled that racial segregation was constitutional as long as the separate facilities for the races were considered equal in quality. This decision effectively upheld the validity of state laws establishing racial segregation, leading to widespread discrimination and the establishment of Jim Crow laws throughout the United States.

The ruling justified the segregation of public facilities, schools, and transportation, reinforcing systemic racial inequalities for decades. This doctrine remained in effect until it was challenged and overturned by subsequent Supreme Court decisions, most notably Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared that segregated educational facilities were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. Other options mentioned, such as Miranda v. Arizona, are unrelated to the issue of segregation, and McCulloch v. Maryland pertains to federal versus state authority, illustrating that Plessy v. Ferguson is the relevant case regarding legal segregation in the United States.