Separate but equal is a type of racial segregation in which two races are provided with segregated services which are ostensibly equal in quality. However, as judge Robert Bork put it - you could never have separation and equality. Therefore, the policy universally violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constituion. Despite this, it was deemed constitutional in the Plessy v. Ferguson court case in 1896. The Plessy decision was overturned in 1954 by the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. [1] In practice separate but equal means worse facilities for non-whites.