Ferguson case caused the Supreme Court Plessy vs. Ferguson ruled against him to install a “separate but equal” doctrine which became the benchmark for segregation. Justice Henry Brown argued that as long as racially separate facilities were equal they didn’t violate the 14th amendment’s guarantees of equal protection of the law. Due to the Plessy vs. Ferguson case decisions, southern states began to pass laws requiring segregation and stated that anyone not following the law could be punished. In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case and held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional. Speaking for a seven-man majority, Brown wrote: "A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races --have no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races. Both the Plessy vs. Ferguson case and Tom Robinson’s case had aspects that made people question their views as to how black people should be treated in the court of law. Though there was a substantial case both times it seemed irrelevant in the decision. There was a big problem with racism back then. There was also a lot of segregation back then as well. There was also a problem with how black people were