We The People... Lesson 25: How Did the Fourteenth Amendment Expand Constitutional Protections of Rights?

Equal protection of the laws

A requirement of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that state laws may not arbitrarily discriminate against persons. One of the key principles of American constitutionalism. It means that no individual or group was to receive special privileges nor be deprived of certain rights under the law.

Powell v. Alabama (1932)

Did the trials violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Palko v. Connecticut (1937)

Does Palko's second conviction violate the protection against double jeopardy guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment because this protection applies to the states by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause?

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Does the First Amendment apply to the states? Is the New York law punishing advocacy to overthrow the government by force an unconstitutional violation of the free speech clause of the First Amendment?

"Preferred freedoms"

First Amendment rights; without such a free society could not exist (right to assemble, petition, religion, speech, and press).

Incorporation

It means the act of including one thing within something else. The Bill of Rights was originally intended to limit the powers of federal government in order to protect the rights of people and the states it did not protect the rights of individuals from state or local governments. The 14th provided for a basis for removing this limitation by specifically prohibiting the states (the same way it applies to the federal government) from violating a person's right to life, liberty, and property without due process of law.

Procedural due process

Refers to those clauses in the U.S. Constitution that protect individuals from unreasonable and unfair governmental procedures. Requires that the procedures by government in making, applying, interpreting, and enforcing the law be reasonable and consistent

Fair trial standard

Supreme court decisions based on whether the state in a given case had abided by those "canons of decency and fairness" fundamental to traditional notions of justice, but not necessarily in accord with the specific provisions of the Bill of Rights.

Equality of condition

The authors of the 14th Amendment did not intend to protect a right to equality of condition meaning that government was responsible for guaranteeing that all citizens were equal in the amount of property they possessed, their living standards, education, medical care, and working conditions only treated equally before the law.

Double jeopardy

The provision in the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that one may not be tried twice for the same crime.

Selective incorporation a.k.a. absorption

The selective application of the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states. Supreme court decisions based on Bill of Rights guarantees on criminal procedure are a general right to counsel, protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy and other procedural guarantees were found to be essential to due process under the 14th Amendment.

Substantive due process

Those judicial interpretations of the due process clauses of the Constitution that require that the content of the laws be fair and reasonable. The requirement that government cannot make laws that apply to situations in which the government has no business interfering-the "substance" or purpose of laws be constitutional like personal privacy

Due process

protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property. The 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution provides that these rights cannot be taken away without due process of law. Refers to the 14th Amendment requirement that the actions of state government be conducted according to the rule of law (respect due process)