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The Supreme Court as a Policy Maker The Supreme Courts role as a policy aker derives from the fact that it in-terprets the law.Public policy issuescome before the Court in the form of legal disputes that must be resolved. An excellent example may be found in the area ofracial equality.In the late 1880s many states enacted laws requir-ing the separation ofAfrican Ameri-cans and whites in public facilities.In 1890，for instance，Louisiana enacted a law requiring separate but equal rail-road accommodations for African Americans and whites.A challengecame two years later.Homer Plessy，who was one-eighth black，protested against the Louisiana law by refusingto move from a seat in the white car of a train traveling from New Orleans to Covington，Louisiana.Arrested and charged with violating the statute，Plessy contended that the law was un-constitutional.The U.S.Supreme Court，in Plessy v.Ferguson（1896），up-held the Louisiana statute.Thus the Court established the separate-but equalpolicy that was to reign for about 60 years.During this periodmany states required that the races sit in different areas ofbuses，trains，ter-minals，and theaters；use different rest-rooms；and drink from different water fountains.African Americans weresometimes excluded from restaurants and public libraries.Perhaps most im-portant，African American students often had to attend inferior schools. Separation of the races in public schools was contested in the famouscase Brown v.Board of Education （1954）。Parents ofAfrican Americanschoolchildren claimed that state laws requiring or permitting segregation deprived them ofequal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment.The Supreme Court ruled that separate educational facili-ties are inherently unequal and，there-fore，segregation constitutes a denial of equal protection.In the Brown deci-sion the Court laid to rest the separate-but-equal doctrine and established a policy ofdesegregated public schools. In an average year the Court de-cides，with signed opinions，between80 and 90 cases.Thousands ofother cases are disposed ofwith less than the full treatment.Thus the Court deals at length with a very select set ofpolicy issues that have varied throughout the Courts history.In a democracy，broad matters ofpublic policy are presumed to be left to the elected representatives ofthe people not to judicial appointees with life terms.Thus，in principle U.S.judges are not supposed to make policy.However，in practice judges cannot help but make policy to some extent.
The Supreme Court，however，differs from legislative and executivepolicy makers.Especially important is the fact that the Court has no self-starting device.The justices must wait for problems to be brought to them；there can be no judicial policy making if there is no litigation.The president and members ofCongress have no such constraints.Moreover，even the most assertive Supreme Court is limited to some extent by the actions of other policy makers，such as lower-court judges，Congress，and the president.The Court depends upon others to implement or carry out its decisions.