May 17, 1954

1954Michael Roberts, South African-English jockey^[†]

Michael Roberts is a South African jockey currently a trainer in South Africa. He lives with his wife Verna and two daughters, Melanie and Carolyn. Roberts has had a successful career, winning many English and South African races multiple times. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey in 1992. His most famous equine partner was the double Eclipse Stakes winner, Mtoto.

1954The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.^[†]

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution via the landmark case Marbury v. Madison. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.