Segregation of Mexican students violated equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

• A. Executive Order 9981
• B. Sweatt v Painter
• C. Hernandez v Texas
• D. Mendez v Westminster

Answer: (D)

Segregation of students based on ethnicity violates the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment because the state cannot treat people differently solely because of their national origin or ethnicity. In Mendez v Westminster, a federal court in California ruled that separating Mexican and Mexican American students into separate schools was unconstitutional. The court found that such segregation denied these children equal protection of the laws and that the separate facilities were not truly equal in quality or opportunity. This decision helped establish that education should be accessible to all students on an equal basis and set a precedent that influenced later desegregation efforts.

Other options relate to equal protection in different contexts, not to segregating Mexican students in public schools. Executive Order 9981 desegregated the armed forces; Sweatt v. Painter challenged the “separate but equal” standard in a law school but in higher education, not K–12 schooling; Hernandez v. Texas extended protection to Mexican Americans in jury service. The case in question specifically addresses school segregation and equal protection, making it the best fit.