The Radical Republicans who advanced the Thirteenth Amendment hoped to ensure broad civil and human rights for the newly freed people-but its scope was disputed before it even went into effect. It nullifies and makes void all state legislation, and state action of every kind, which impairs the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or which injures them in life, liberty or property without due process of law, or which denies to any of them the equal protection of the laws." Bradley commented in the Civil Rights Cases that "individual invasion of individual rights is not the subject-matter of the Amendment. However, Congress can sometimes reach such discrimination via other parts of the Constitution such as the Commerce Clause which Congress used to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964-the Supreme Court upheld this approach in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. The Supreme Court held in Civil Rights Cases (1883) that the amendment was limited to "state action" and, therefore, did not authorize the Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals or organizations. Abridgment or denial of those civil rights by private persons is not addressed by this amendment. Section 1 of the amendment formally defines United States citizenship and also protects various civil rights from being abridged or denied by any state or state actor. The two pages of the Fourteenth Amendment in the National Archives Flores (1997), this power may not be used to contradict a Supreme Court decision interpreting the amendment. The fifth section gives Congress the power to enforce the amendment's provisions by "appropriate legislation" however, under City of Boerne v. United States (1935), to prohibit Congress from abrogating a contract of debt incurred by a prior Congress. However, the second section's reference to "rebellion, or other crime" has been invoked as a constitutional ground for felony disenfranchisement. ![]() The second, third, and fourth sections of the amendment are seldom litigated. This clause has been the basis for many decisions rejecting discrimination against people belonging to various groups. ![]() The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people, including all non-citizens, within its jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has ruled this clause makes most of the Bill of Rights as applicable to the states as it is to the federal government, as well as to recognize substantive and procedural requirements that state laws must satisfy. The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without a fair procedure. Since the Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Privileges or Immunities Clause has been interpreted to do very little. Sandford (1857), which had held that Americans descended from African slaves could not be citizens of the United States. The Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship, nullifying the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. The amendment's first section includes several clauses: the Citizenship Clause, Privileges or Immunities Clause, Due Process Clause, and Equal Protection Clause. The amendment limits the actions of all state and local officials, and also those acting on behalf of such officials. Hodges (2015) regarding same-sex marriage. ![]() Gore (2000) regarding the 2000 presidential election, and Obergefell v. Wade (1973) regarding abortion ( overturned in 2022), Bush v. Board of Education (1954) regarding racial segregation, Roe v. The amendment, particularly its first section, is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution, forming the basis for landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Brown v. The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. Usually considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
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