Fourteenth Amendment
Equal protection guarantee
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, establishes that all persons born in the United States are citizens and guarantees equal protection under the law.
Its due process and equal protection clauses have become the basis for landmark civil rights decisions, from desegregation to same-sex marriage.
The court struck down the law on Fourteenth Amendment grounds.
- Supreme CourtNation's top tribunal
- ConstitutionGoverning principles document
- Obergefell v. HodgesRuling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide
- Bill of RightsInitial constitutional amendments guaranteeing freedoms
- Loving v. VirginiaCase legalizing interracial marriage
freedmen · Brown v. Board of Education · Reconstruction Era · post-Civil War · Dred Scott · incorporation · birthright · Roe v. Wade · fundamental rights · abolition · citizenship · anchor baby · Clarence Thomas · Immigration · personhood · privileges · clause · Congress
- U.S. LawsCivil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, HIPAA
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- ConstitutionBill of Rights, preamble, articles, U.S. Constitution, Article I
- legal historylegal history, medieval law, Roman law, Roman jurisprudence, common law
Fourteenth AmendmentJim Crow laws
Post-Reconstruction racial separation statutes
Plessy v. Ferguson · racial segregation · poll taxes · literacy tests · grandfather clauses