Buck V Bell Case

In 1927, there was an infamous Supreme Court case in Virginia that would be controversial and affect the lives of the mentally ill for many years. This was known as the case, Buck v Bell, which ruled in the favor of the sterilization of Carrie Buck, who was deemed “mentally unfit” to reproduce (Caldwell 1). Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. ruled that it did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment and quotes that “three generations of imbeciles are enough” (Wright 1). This court case led to an improper decision for Carrie Buck due to a law that negatively impacted the entire United States because it limited the rights of mentally challenged citizens in history for a large part of the remainder of the twentieth century.
In 1924, the Eugenical

A fact that was never brought up during the court cases was that Buck’s pregnancy was because she was raped by a nephew of the foster parents. Buck’s mother, Emma Buck, was also accused of having hereditary traits of illegitimacy. The right to enforce sterilization was first challenged in the Circuit Court of Amherst County (Caldwell 3). In court, Buck was in trail against Albert Priddy, the Virginia Colony’s superintendent, and Aubrey E. Strode, the man who established the Sterilization Act. Irving P. Whitehead was Buck’s unjust attorney, who provided a weak defense for Buck, because Whitehead knew Priddy and Strode personally, professionally, and politically for many years. Whitehead did not call any witnesses during the trial while Strode called four “expert” witnesses to prove that Buck was feebleminded (Caldwell 3). The Amherst County Circuit Court declared the lawfulness of the Sterilization Act and the case then went to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Priddy died in January 13, 1925 before appeals have decided to hear the case and Dr. John H. Bell took his place as superintendent. Later that year, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals agreed with the

Bell. It was the first time the Supreme Court order someone to be operated, who did not want to be operated. This case was based of false facts, false theories, and false science. Eugenics was first started in England by a man named Francis Galton, a half-cousin of Charles Darwin, developed the concept of eugenics that could improve the gene pool from future generations of physically or mentally disabled (Wright 2). Eugenicists believed that if two people of healthy genes reproduced, and the ones with improper genes did not, then it would improve humanity from disability. Eugenics was greatly adopted by the leaders in America including Theodore Roosevelt and Alexander Graham Bell. Theodore Roosevelt after leaving the White House states, “I wish very much that the wrong people could be prevented entirely from breeding… Feeble-minded persons [should be] forbidden to leave offspring behind them” (Roy 1). Many universities, including Harvard, began offering classes in eugenics as it began to have been a form of incompetence prevention. The case was used as a model to look back to for not only the United states, but all over the world. For example, Adolf Hitler studied eugenics and even published a book known as “Mein Kamph” which proved his deep understanding of American eugenics. Thus, led to the rise of the Nazi Regime sponsoring research and passing laws that eliminated genetic problems such as birth