Who is 'created equal'? The Supreme Court's influence over America's ideal: ANALYSIS

Inscribed atop the iconic U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, the words “Equal Justice Under Law” reflect a timeless American ideal that has been shaped in large part by generations of justices over the past quarter century.

“Sometimes they did pretty well, sometimes not so well,” said retired Justice Stephen Breyer in an interview with ABC News' Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.

From the outset and still today, the court has been bedeviled with critical questions over exactly who gets to enjoy the unalienable rights enshrined by the Declaration of Independence and its pledge that “all men are created equal.”

“Does it include women? Does it include Native Americans? Does it include enslaved people or freed slaves? And the answer starts off being, ‘no, no, no,’” said Walter Isaacson, professor of history at Tulane University.

A slavery ruling propels a rights movement

A Missouri slave named Dred Scott and his wife Harriett were among the first to test the nation’s founding ideals of equality in a courtroom, suing for their freedom and setting into motion a flashpoint in high court history.

“Truth and righteousness was in their heart and on their side,” Lynn Jackson, Scott’s great-great granddaughter, told ABC News' Pierre Thomas. “Its like, ‘Why should I remain a slave when I am free? No, I'm a man. I have rights.’”

Scott’s case reached the Supreme Court in 1857 when his appeal was quickly denied. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote chillingly that Black people were “property” and had “no rights or privileges” under the Constitution.

Many legal scholars consider it the worst ruling in the court’s 237-year history; but it may have had a silver lining.

“You never know when you’re a judge what the political impact will be,” said Justice Breyer. “You know who read that decision? Abraham Lincoln.”

The Dred Scott decision is said to have inspired Lincoln to speak out forcefully against slavery, run for president, and later lead the nation through a bloody Civil War. In the years that followed, ratification of the 14th Amendment would overrule the Taney Court and guarantee citizenship to former slaves and all born on U.S. soil.

“What started out for a family to get their freedom turned into a case that ultimately freed a nation of enslaved persons,” said Jackson of her great-great grandfather’s landmark lawsuit and legacy.

Inequality endures for Black Americans

Citizenship, however, would not mean equality for Black Americans.

Three decades after the Civil War, the Supreme Court would vote to uphold racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, implicitly endorsing segregation across the South that lasted for more than half a century.

Then in 1954, a young black attorney from Baltimore -- Thurgood Marshall – would make a historic appearance before nine white justices, demanding a course correction in Brown v. Board of Education.

“What he talked about,” recalled Justice Breyer, “was if you nine decide it is unconstitutional and end segregation and go to integration, you’re worried that people won’t follow you. You’re worried they won’t do it. But I’ll tell you, we can get it. This country can do it. We can!”

In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” ruling that segregation in public schools denies students of “equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”

Change was not instant. In Little Rock, Arkansas, three years later, it took nine brave teenagers, a federal judge, and eventually U.S. troops deployed by President Eisenhower to begin to make integration a reality.

“Over the years the Supreme Court helps expand that notion of who's included in our society, and then it moves back and forth,” said Isaacson. “No narrative is a straight line, and so we each have to reflect, are we going in the right direction?”

'All men and women are created equal'

The fight for an equal voice has played out over and over again.

For America’s women, it was more than a century of struggle for the right to vote. Freed Black male slaves obtained that right before any woman did.

Turned down by courts, dozens of brave women held a first suffrage meeting in Seneca Falls, then took their movement to the streets across America.

“The Declaration of Sentiments that was introduced at Seneca Falls had one of the great two word edits of all time: Not ‘all men are created equal,’ but ‘all men and women are created equal,’” said Beverly Gage, an American historian and professor at Yale University.

From the right to vote, to equal pay, to the right to access abortion under Roe v. Wade,  the history of women’s rights has been marked by a constant push and pull inside the judicial system and out.

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe was another major turning point.

“We are a country that is divided over these sorts of questions and we shouldn't be alarmed that this is a contest and it's a struggle because that's what the history is,” Gage said.

The rights of LGBTQ Americans

The estimated 14 million American adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have lived a similar journey. The Supreme Court has played a crucial role in securing the freedom to live openly no matter who you love.

“We learn about freedom and liberty over time,” observed retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who cast the deciding vote in 2015 to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide.

“There were thousands of children that were adopted by gay parents. And for them to know that their parents were not recognized by society, by the law, as real parents, as something that was marginally illegal, would create a profound sadness for thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of children,” Kennedy said of his thinking at the time.

The huddled masses yearning to breathe free

Also part of the struggle of equality: America’s immigrants – long the lifeblood of the nation’s identity and spirit of renewal.

In the 19th century, it was the Irish who faced backlash. During World War II, it was the Japanese – loyal Americans many of whom were forced onto internment camps in a betrayal of the country’s founding ideals.

The Supreme Court upheld the exclusion of Japanese-Americans in the case Korematsu v. U.S. in 1944. The decision wasn’t formally overturned until 2018.

Just last month, the Court reaffirmed the meaning of the 14th Amendment and more than a century of settled law:  birthright citizenship is the law of the land.

Time and again, the DNA of the Declaration of Independence has prevailed.

“Dred Scott's legacy is one of a man who had the strength of courage and character to fight for what he believed in,” said Jackson. “He was able to free a whole nation of people, and that legacy lives on.”

A challenge for today

Justice Breyer sees Scott’s legacy as posing a challenge to Americans today.

“It means we have to rise to the occasion. It means we have to try to understand other people who live in this country and don’t share all our opinions,” he said. “We have to say we’re in this together, yes we can. Yes we can make this experiment work.”