Still Separate But Equal?

I was reading this post by Scott Johnson of Power Line this morning and came to this paragraph, which, if you have never heard this argument before, may shock you:

[Andrew Kull's The Colorblind Constitution] is full of surprises. For example, Kull devotes two chapters to the separate but equal doctrine approved by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The case represents the bygone era of Jim Crow, yet at the outset of his discussion of the case Professor Kull makes this astounding observation: “The majority opinion in Plessy makes a comfortable target, and it is routinely vilified. But in its broad holding, as opposed to its particular application, Plessy has never been overruled, even by implication. On the contrary, it announced what has remained ever since the stated view of a majority of the Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of laws that classify by race.”

On this subject I would highly recommend Edward Erler's essay "Still Separate But Equal."  Here is a sample:

If the central principle of the Declaration is true, that "all men are created equal," then it necessarily follows that among human beings there are no natural rulers and thus no man can be ruled without his consent. It also follows that in the absence of natural rulers each individual is possessed of the natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights necessarily belong to individuals because they are inherent in the principles of human nature, the first principle of which is natural human equality. Equal protection of the laws means first and foremost that every individual is guaranteed the equal protection of equal rights. The idea of man as it appears in the Declaration has no color or race. From the point of view of the Declaration, race is an accidental, not an essential feature of human nature; and the rule of law, whatever else it may entail, prohibits arbitrariness in its classifications. Since race is an arbitrary category, it is excluded ipso facto by the rule of law and equal protection of the laws. Justice John Marshall Harlan's justly celebrated dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), with its invocation of a "colorblind" Constitution, was perfectly consistent with the central principle of the Declaration and the 14th Amendment.