In 1896, the supreme court ruling in plessy v. ferguson took a narrow view of the fourteenth amendment by a. limiting the equal protection clause to federal, not state or local, property and activities. b. stating that equal protection could be extended through equal but separate facilities and services. c applying equal protection to social spheres, such as schools, but not to political rights, such as voting. e denying specific racial, ethnic, and religious groups any protection under the law because they lacked citizenship. declaring that equal protection under the law only applied to publicly owned and operated facilities, not to private businesses.