Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 18, 2025, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Supreme Court Decisions) for Tuesday, February 18, 2025 (Season 41, Game 117):
This landmark case was reported in the N.Y. Times not on the front page but in “News of the Railroads”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Jaskaran Singh, a consultant from Plano, Texas
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Margaret Shelton, a homemaker from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Skyler Hornback, a chemical engineering Ph.D. student originally from Sonora, Kentucky
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today’s second game of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament features Skyler Hornback, Margaret Shelton, and Jaskaran Singh. Skyler is making his first appearance on the Alex Trebek Stage since winning $66,600 in Kids Week in 2013, while both Margaret and Jaskaran were part of the 30th Tournament of Champions. The Unified Prediction Model does think Jaskaran is the favorite to advance in this one, but I also think that this will be one of the closer quarterfinal matches.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Plessy v. Ferguson?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2025 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Famous for permitting the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation in the United States and ushering in the Jim Crow era, Plessy v. Ferguson arose from Homer Plessy’s boarding of a whites-only rail car in Louisiana, and judge John Howard’s Ferguson failure to dismiss the charges on Fourteenth Amendment grounds. In one of the most infamous Supreme Court rulings, the court ruled 7-1 against Plessy. John Harlan became known as “The Great Dissenter” for his dissent in this and other cases that restricted civil rights.
Interestingly, I do think this clue is made slightly harder by just referencing “railroads” and not the year that the decision came down, but I do think it will still be a relatively straightforward Final Jeopardy clue for this level.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, February 18, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: On The Historic Top 40; “Ism”s; That’s Not A Thing Anymore; Giving You The Creeps; Slinging Slang; Borderline)
In an interesting opening segment that saw Skyler taking the old-school top-to-bottom route, the Daily Double stayed hidden. After 15 clues, the scores were Jaskaran $3,600 Skyler $2,200 Margaret $400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Jaskaran 6 correct 2 incorrect
Skyler 5 correct 1 incorrect
Margaret 3 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Jaskaran is grateful for the support he got from the Sikh-American community.
Margaret has “beef” with Brian Chang, who’s in the audience.
Skyler won $66,600 in one game twelve years ago.
Skyler managed to find the Daily Double shortly after the break, but an incorrect response dropped his score. At the second break, Jaskaran led with Margaret in second.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jaskaran 9 correct 3 incorrect
Margaret 8 correct 1 incorrect
Skyler 9 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jaskaran $5,600
Margaret $2,800
Skyler $2,700
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The ’80s: Who Said It?; Libraries; TV Sitcoms; Russian Literature; Earth Science; Triple “A”)
The Daily Doubles came out very late—Jaskaran found DD2 eventually and bet just $1,000—fortuitiously, as he was incorrect. Margaret went the middle route on DD3, betting too much to be out of contention if she was wrong, but not enough to bet for the lead—and dropped out of contention with an incorrect response as Jaskaran cruised to a runaway.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Jaskaran 23 correct 5 incorrect
Skyler 15 correct 2 incorrect
Margaret 15 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Jaskaran $21,800
Skyler $7,100
Margaret $6,200
Jaskaran put an exclamation point on this one by being the only player correct in Final; he’s now a semifinalist!
Tonight’s results:
Margaret $6,200 – $6,200 = $0 (What is ?)
Skyler $7,100 – $3,500 = $3,600 (What is Pullman vs. United Sta)
Jaskaran $21,800 + $0 = $21,800 (What is Plessy v. Ferguson) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BORDERLINE $600 (clue #17)
Skyler 3200 -1500 (Margaret 400 Jaskaran 3600)
2) EARTH SCIENCE $1600 (clue #20)
Jaskaran 21600 -1000 (Skyler 3900 Margaret 10000)
3) TRIPLE “A” $2000 (clue #24, $3200 left on board)
Margaret 11200 -5000 (Skyler 5500 Jaskaran 21000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -96
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Skyler 1 2 1 1 2 5 3*
Margaret 3 5 4
Jaskaran 4 3 4 5 3 4 5
DJ! Round:
Skyler 1 3 2 5†
Margaret 2 5 1 3 2 4 5*
Jaskaran 4 4 5 3 4 5 3 3 5 2 4* 4 3
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Jaskaran 3.85
Skyler 2.36
Margaret 3.40
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.22 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jaskaran $22,800 Coryat, 23 correct, 5 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Skyler $8,600 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Margaret $11,200 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $42,600
Lach Trash: $2,600 (on 4 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,800
Lead Changes: 7
Times Tied: 3
Player Statistics:
Skyler Hornback, career statistics:
45 correct, 5 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (40/114)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,500)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,400
Margaret Shelton, career statistics:
136 correct, 21 incorrect
16/16 on rebound attempts (on 40 rebound opportunities)
32.99% in first on buzzer (128/388)
4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,100)
4/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,029
Jaskaran Singh, career statistics:
139 correct, 24 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
41.52% in first on buzzer (142/342)
7/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,400)
6/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,900
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I will be a very disappointed podcast listener if Sam Buttrey doesn’t go into more information about Phillips Exeter Academy in his “Butt Wait, There’s More” segment on Inside Jeopardy!.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Updated JIT odds:
Matt +420
Jaskaran +670
Emily +3400
Rachael +3300
Jonathan +4500
Raymond +4300
Troy +880
Jackie +4000
Maya +10000
Roger +1500
John +2100
Avi +10000
Amy +1300
Luigi +2000
Ray +4000
Robin +2500
Ryan +7900
Ben +1300
Claire +15000
Shane +2600
Seth +5300
Jackson +8000
Juveria +2000
Finals length odds:
2 games: +170
3 games: +110
4 games: +350
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Sadly, not familiar with this. I’ll read up on it today so there’s one less thing that I should’ve known but did not.
Same here.
The doctrine of “Separate but equal” was established by the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
I got this one instantly.
I knew the facts of the case in general terms but forgot the railroad part. The year 1896 would have given it to me. Congratulations to Jaskaran for knowing this!
Same here
Year would have been helpful. But remember discussing the case in law school and remembered it dealt with railroads.
The Plessey decision is something I don’t remember learning about in high school American History in the early 70’s. With the story about the decision regulated to the Railroads section of the New York Times, according to the answer clue, like Skyler I thought the correct response would be something regarding the Pullman Company.
With interview with Skyler about his Jeopardy Kids Week appearnace, made me realize how I miss Teen Week, and, the other special weeks or tournaments.
Don’t get me wrong, 2nd Chance, Champions Wild Card, are great lead ins to the Tournament of Champions, but those “other” competitions were always fun. Didn’t Alex say once that Kid’s Week was (one of) his favorite weeks of the season?
History class in high school and law class in college both helped me to remember the facts in this case and get the correct response to final.
For those who think Supreme Court cases should never be overturned by future courts, this is an excellent example of why even Supreme Court cases can and should be overturned sometimes. Things change with the times.
I have a hunch that this current Supreme Court will be overturning a lot of their precedents from the past and soon.
I guessed Taft-Hartley just because that act was one I could think of that I knew had to do with labor, which a decision concerning railroads could maybe have to do with. I was well aware of Plessy v. Ferguson (enough that I could tell a lot about it to anyone asking about it) due to multiple PBS shows, but the FJ! clue just didn’t make me think of it.
Skyler’s last appearance was actually the game where, next to him, Thomas Hurley misspelled “Emancipation Proclamation” very slightly and made it phonetically incorrect with the “T” between the “P” and “A” which sparked backlash online. CNN dubbed it “the saddest moment in Jeopardy! history”
Well shoot! I probably should have gotten FJ right, as I read (on my own volition) about Supreme Court cases recently. Ugh! 🙁
Retro congrats to Jaskaran on winning Quarterfinal #2! Great to see Margaret again. I’ve always enjoyed her being on Jeopardy. And great to see Skyler play, as I had never seen him play.
What will Quarterfinal 3 bring us tomorrow? Tune in on Wednesday and find out! Looking forward to it myself! 🙂