Which case, decided in 1954, extended protection against discrimination to Hispanics?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Roth v. US
• C. Hernandez v. Texas
• D. NAACP v. Alabama

Answer: (C)

Hernandez v. Texas, decided in 1954, establishes that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause protects Hispanics as a distinct ethnic group. The Court ruled that excluding Mexican Americans from juries solely because of ethnicity violated equal protection, meaning Hispanics cannot be discriminated against as a class in the eyes of the law. This case thus extends anti-discrimination protections beyond other groups and confirms that discrimination against Hispanics is unconstitutional under the Constitution. The other cases address different issues (education segregation, obscenity, and freedom of association) and do not specifically extend protection to Hispanics.