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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society

The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society

University of Arizona

Jennifer Lopez
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
Abstract

The 14th amendment is one of the most important amendments in the Constitution. The

Supreme Court has shown that the 14th amendment is an important resource to rely on in some

form whether the interpreted language. The Equal Protection Clause covers the different

protections of fairness and equality that are exercised in anti-discrimination cases. The Due

Process Clause also refers to the rights of citizens when unfairly violated by the government who

places burdens on a person or property. Citizenship also falls in the 14th amendment because it

outlines the citizenship claims by birth. Lastly, privileges and immunities are common rights for

citizens. Therefore, when either one of these is violated it must resort to the many court cases

and appeal until the final jurisdiction is reached to the Supreme Court.

Keywords; 14th Amendment, Constitution, Equal Protection, Due Process, Citizenship,

Privileges, Immunities, and Jurisdiction

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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society

In our modern society, we have learned how valuable the 14th amendment is to every

citizen of the United States. Thanks to Supreme Court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v.

Board of Education, and Mapp v. Ohio cases that helped the courts rely on the specific

interpretations of language in the 14th amendment. As the 14th amendment states and is

interpreted by court case appealed to the Supreme court in the last 50 years, involves the right to

the equal protection of our citizens, “due process," citizenship, privileges, and immunities.

In the Constitution, the 14th amendment is one of the most significant amendments in the

past by Congress on June 13, 1866, and endorsed July 9, 1868. This amendment involves

citizenship rights, equal protection, apportionment, and civil war debt. Meaning that all people

born in the United States are to not condense the privileges or immunities of one, be deprived of

life, liberty, or property, without the due process of the law. Section 2 in the Constitution states,

“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.”

(The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution). Lastly, the 14th amendment states that

Congress has the power to enforce the law by the necessities of this article.

As the Supreme Court has the power to enforce the law by necessities of the 14th

amendment, it is their duty to make sure they are able to rely on the form the article is interpreted

by its language. For instance, in the past 50 years, the Supreme Court has relied on some form

the specific or interpreted language from the 14th amendment to inherit in court cases final

jurisdiction. For example, the Plessy v. Ferguson case in May 1896, Brown v. Board of

Education May 1954, and Mapp v. Ohio in June 1961. These court cases were appealed to the

Supreme Court as a violation of their 14th amendment, in these cases and more the Supreme
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
Court has shown to rely on the language of the 14th amendment to make history and evolve our

society.

Most of these cases involved the equal protection, fairness, and equality in anti-

discrimination situations experienced in our society years ago. Therefore, congress has been able

to acknowledge that behavior experienced in anti-discrimination cases of any shape or form

helps society distinguish the society in the 1950s-2000s. This is why the basic rights offered to

each citizen should be portrayed fairly and should not be shortened in the law. This includes any

government-affiliated attempts to unfairly place a burden on the person or their private property.

This can be anything like transportation, public and private schooling, illegal search or seizure.

The Plessy v. Ferguson case was denied, in almost every court in determining the

violation of Plessy’s 14th amendment rights. Therefore, the “Supreme Court considered the

constitutionally of Louisiana law passed in 1890” (Boxill, 1997). This law was meant to separate

the whites and colored races from all other passengers. Homer Plessy sued the state of Louisiana

for statute violations in the 13th and 14th Amendments. Ferguson’s equality rights were being

violated in terms of treating black Americans inferior to whites. (Boxill, 1997). This case was

appealed to the Supreme Court due to the lack of interpretation that other courts failed to see

when it came to the 14th amendment. Plessy was being violated by the Equal Protection Clause

of the 14th Amendment, and privileges as one’s color is not a burden. As Justice John Marshall

Harlan stated “because of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no

superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-

blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." (The First Hundred Years.

Landmark Cases. Plessy v. Ferguson”,1896). Thus, the Supreme Court ruled that racial
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
segregation be unconstitutional in public settings, as the language in the 14th amendment helped

them reach their jurisdiction.

In the court case Brown v. Board of Education, the segregation of public schools was a

violation of the 14th amendment and ruled unconstitutional. The Supreme Court decision stated

“separate but equal” was an example set on the civil rights movement. (Hanushek, 2009).

Congress used its position to properly adjust the bias in the Constitution to address new problems

at different times. As in this case, the burden was on equality in schooling, not allowing black

Americans to have a higher percentage in achievement and increase the possibility of the gap

between white and black Americans. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment, this

case could not be interpreted the same as the Plessy v. Ferguson case since the situations were

different. Therefore, the Supreme court has to rely on the language of the 14th amendment to

“separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities inherently unequal violating the

Equal Protection Clause.” (Topeka, n.d.).

Lastly, in the Mapp v. Ohio case, the Supreme Court decided to rely on some form of the

specific and interpreted language in the 14th amendment. This case required congress to take

action and interpret the 14th amendment using the language of “due process” to the rights of the

citizens whenever the government unfairly attempted to place a burden on the person. The

exclusionary rule means that a law that prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence in a

criminal trial. In this case, the 14th amendment was violated, because “Dollree Mapp was

convicted of possessing obscene materials after an admittedly illegal police search of her home

for a fugitive.” (Atkins, 2003). Therefore, the court ruled that the 5-4 because of the unfairly

seized without a search warrant Due Process Clause.

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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
As we can see in the past 50 years, the Supreme Court uses the interpretation of the 14th

amendment to handle the jurisdiction of new court cases that have different elements of

violation. Although these court cases have been in different periods, congress has to rely in some

form or fashion on either specific or the interpreted language from the 14th amendment. Because

no case is the same, all have different levels like the right to the equal protection of our citizens,

“due process," citizenship, privileges, and immunities. Sometimes each case is violated on more

than one occasion and needs the interpretation of the 14th amendment. As seen in the Plessy v.

Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and Mapp v. Ohio case the Supreme Court had to in

some way or form use the 14th amendment to reach a jurisdiction on what was violated and

resolution.
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
Appendix

Figure 1: Plessy v. Ferguson

Figure 2: Brown v. Board of Education

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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society

Figure 3: Mapp v. Ohio

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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society

References

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2020, from

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiv

Atkins, R., & Rubin, P. (2003). Effects of Criminal Procedure on Crime Rates: Mapping Out the

Consequences of the Exclusionary Rule. The Journal of Law and Economics, 46(1), 157-

179. doi:10.1086/345582

Boxill, B. R. (1997). Washington, Du BOIS and Plessy V. Ferguson. Racism and the Law: The

Legacy and Lessons of Plessy, 79-110. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8977-2_5

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1). (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2020, from

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

Hanushek, E., Kain, J., & Rivkin, S. (2009). New Evidence about Brown v. Board of Education:

The Complex Effects of School Racial Composition on Achievement. Journal of Labor

Economics, 27(3), 349-383. doi:10.1086/600386

The Supreme Court. “The First Hundred Years. Landmark Cases. Plessy v. Ferguson”. (1896):

PBS. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2020, from

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_plessy.html
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The 14th Amendment in an Evolving Society