In Johnson v. Virginia (1962), the U.S Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in courtrooms was unconstitutional, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case arose when Bruce Boynton, an African American lawyer representing a black defendant named Robert L. Johnson Jr., challenged Virginia's practice of segregating its courts by race. The state had assigned separate seating areas for white and black spectators during Johnson's trial for robbery in 1959, which resulted in his conviction being overturned on appeal due to this discriminatory practice. In a unanimous decision delivered per curiam (by the court as a whole rather than by individual justices), the Supreme Court held that such segregation was "manifestly incompatible" with American ideals of fairness and equality before law.

In the dissenting opinion for Johnson v. Virginia, 1962, Justice Harlan argued that the Fourteenth Amendment does not forbid racial segregation in public facilities and accommodations. He contended that states have a constitutional right to maintain separate but equal facilities for different races as long as they do not discriminate against any particular race or deny anyone equal protection under law. Furthermore, he believed that it is within the state's police power to regulate conduct in public places to preserve peace and order. Therefore, according to him, if a state believes racial mixing in certain situations might lead to violence or disorder due its unique social conditions then it should be allowed discretion over such matters rather than being forced by federal courts into desegregation policies which may potentially disrupt societal harmony.