TMK

AIBRC-004 • US court records • 4 min read

The famous date is the decoy

A benchmark on the school-segregation appeal that asks for the first oral argument date, not the decision everyone remembers.

Last verified 4 September 2026

One date in this case is known worldwide. Several others are not, and they are recorded in the official reports and archive material.

Asking for the less-famous date keeps the answer short and objectively verifiable while defeating recall-from-memory answers.

The question as published

Five school cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia were consolidated into a single appeal, argued once, then reargued a year later before a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in 1954. On what date was the case first argued?
Answer
9 December 1952
Confidence
High — stated in the official United States Reports header

Sources opened and read

  • U.S. Reports: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

    Library of Congress (official United States Reports scan) • Government records • Primary

    The official report gives all three dates in one line, so the first argument date can be separated from the decision date without inference.

    Open source

  • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) — Milestone Documents

    U.S. National Archives and Records Administration • Government records • Primary

    Ties the printed report back to the physical record series, so the chain does not stop at a published volume.

    Open source

  • Opinion, 1954-05-17 — National Archives Identifier 1656510

    Civil Rights Digital Library (National Archives record) • Reference databases • Secondary

    Gives a stable archival identifier another researcher can use to request the same document.

    Open source

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka — Opinion of the Court

    Wikisource transcription of the opinion • Archived webpages • Secondary

    Searchable text of the opinion; used for wording only, with the official scan as the authority.

    Open source

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) — case page

    Justia US Supreme Court Center • Reference databases • Secondary

    Lists argument across three days, where the official report prints only the first day. Both agree the argument began on 9 December 1952, which is what the question asks for.

    Open source

Searches that were run

  • Brown v. Board of Education decided May 17 1954 347 U.S. 483 National Archives judgment primary document

    Web search • 4 September 2026 • Answer exposed: No

    National Archives milestone documents entry; Library of Congress scan of 347 U.S. 483; Justia case page; National Archives opinion highlight; PBS copy of the decision

  • school segregation case first argued December 1952 reargued 1953 Supreme Court

    Web search • 4 September 2026 • Answer exposed: Yes

    Case summaries and encyclopaedia entries giving argument and reargument dates

  • "Records of the Supreme Court of the United States" Record Group 267 opinion 1954 NAID

    Web search • 4 September 2026 • Answer exposed: No

    Civil Rights Digital Library catalogue record NAID 1656510; National Archives catalogue pages

What the investigation showed

What made the question difficult

The case has four candidate dates — argument, reargument, decision, and the later implementation ruling — and the famous one is not the one asked for.

Which searches failed

Searching the case by name returns the decision date in almost every snippet; none of the top results surfaced the argument date without opening a document.

Which source proved decisive

The Library of Congress scan of United States Reports volume 347, whose header prints argued, reargued and decided dates on one line.

How ambiguity was removed

Clue C07 names the decision date explicitly and rules it out, so the only remaining reading is the first oral argument.

What an AI browsing agent might get wrong

Answering 17 May 1954, giving the 1953 reargument, or picking the last of the three 1952 argument days that some databases list.

Remaining limitations

The official report prints a single argument date while Justia lists 9, 10 and 11 December 1952. They agree the argument began on 9 December 1952, and the question asks when it was first argued, but a solver quoting a closing day would be marked wrong.

Recommended future improvements

Add the National Archives catalogue images of the docket sheet so the hearing days can be read from the Court's own record.

Read the full case study

The complete record — clue matrix, evidence cards, validation log and the structured JSON output — is published on the case study page.

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