14th Amendment Pros And Cons

Selective incorporation is a doctrine located in the constitution that protects its citizens from the states passing laws that could disregard their rights. Selective incorporation allows the federal government to place limitations on the legislative powers of the state. When the Bill of Rights were initially written, they only applied to the federal government, not the states. This was a concern for all for there was a possibility of the central government gaining too much power. It wasn’t until around 1833 that the supreme court even considered whether or not the Bill of Rights extended limitations to both the federal and state governments (Hudson Jr., 2017). Leading congress to this consideration was the case of Barron Vs. Baltimore. This

The fourteenth amendment was adopted in 1868 after the American Civil War along with the thirteenth and fifteenth amendment. Before the war there were many states attempting to and actually passing laws that contradicted the U.S. Constitution. The fourteenth amendment was initially created to protect the slaves; however, its effects were far greater than that. It was able to place a federal restraint on the states by taking away their ability to refuse any person life, liberty and or property without due process of law, it limited them from creating laws that limit citizens the rights they are given in the constitution. It also guaranteed that every person within a state’s jurisdiction would have equal

The first amendment is one that is fully incorporated, there have been many cases to assure that each freedom mentioned takes place in limiting the government’s power in contradicting the constitution. For example, in 1925 there was a case, Giltow v. New York, this case fought for freedom of speech. Giltow had been publishing communist articles for distribution in the U.S., he arrested under a state law of criminal anarchy. Giltow tried to argue that because there were no violent results due to his publications that his arrest was invalid. The court came to the decision that the right to free speech applies to state laws under the 14th amendment. The second amendment is also one that is completely incorporated thanks to cases such as McDonald v Chicago that dealt with the right to keep and bear arms in the United States. The fourth amendment is the last amendment to be fully incorporated. A big case that helped do so was Mapp v Ohio in 1961. This case took place on the account that police officers had invaded Dollree Mapp’s house without a proper search warrant due to suspicion of harboring a suspected bomber. Mapp argued that they had done so unlawfully due to her fourth amendment rights stated in the constitution. In the end, the court had a 5-3 majority vote in favor of Mapp,