![]() ![]() But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that “no union is more profound than marriage” and that the Due Process Clause extends to “certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy, including intimate choices that define personal identity and beliefs.” He used the equal protection portion of the amendment, too, saying that it “prohibits this unjustified infringement of the fundamental right to marry.” As of June 26, 2015, same-sex marriage became legal in all 50 states.Section. Hodges: Just last month, the 14th Amendment was again applied, this time to make gay marriage legal across the land. The court’s decision effectively killed the recount and Bush became the country’s 43rd president that January. Bush’s lawyers successfully argued that the recount violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because different standards of counting were used in different municipalities. Gore: In 2000, amid the Florida recount that would decide the presidency, George W. Jane Roe’s right to privacy was violated by the Texas statute that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother.īush v. In Roe, the court said Americans had a “right to privacy,” pulling text from the Constitution’s First, Fourth, Ninth and, yes, 14th amendments. Wade: Nineteen years after that, the court used the 14th Amendment in a more creative way, legalizing abortion in the United States. The ruling overturned Plessy and forced desegregation. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, the court decided that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and thus violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. ![]() Board of Education: Nearly 60 years later, the Supreme Court used the 14th Amendment to give segregation another look. This “separate but equal” mantra allowed for the birth of the Jim Crow South, in which everything from water fountains to public schooling was legally segregated.īrown v. In Plessy, the Supreme Court said segregation was constitutionally acceptable as long as the facilities were equal. The first landmark case to really test the 14th Amendment was Plessy v. Ferguson: Of course, the understanding of the amendment has changed over the years. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” It extended “due process” to the states, not just the federal government and offered “equal protection of the laws.” The amendment answered the citizenship question for African-Americans after the Civil War. (Strangely, it took until 2003 for the two states to reverse that decision, according to Politico.) That didn’t matter, as three-quarters of the states approved the amendment by this date. Lawmakers from the two states ratified the amendment, but then passed resolutions rescinding their support. It was adopted 147 years ago today, on July 28, 1868, after being initially delayed, when legislatures in Ohio and New Jersey played take-backsies. When it comes to constitutional amendments, the 14th Amendment has played a big role in moving society forward.
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