Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

In what developmental stage of life is a human considered a person with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? On December 13th of 1971 this very same question was indirectly presented to the United States Supreme Court in the initial oral argument of the Roe v. Wade case, and later in the reargument on October 11th of 1972. The case involved Norma McCorvey, known as Jane Roe during the trial; Roe’s attorney, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee; the defendant and –then– district…

Scott was a slave that lived in Missouri and later moved to the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin with his master. When they both moved back to Missouri, Scott sued for his freedom claiming he became free when they moved to the northern free states. Chief Justice Roger Taney decided that slaves are not United States citizens and therefore, do not have the right to sue for their freedom. Taney proclaimed that no individual state has the authority to grant…

Board of Education the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools went against the fourteenth amendment which states that, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States... Nor to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” When the Supreme Court rules that segregation was unequal to all citizens of the U…

segregation, Mr. McBride also reported how before the case Brown v. BoE,“large portions of the United States had racially segregated schools, made legal by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which held that segregated public facilities were constitutional so long as the black and white facilities were equal to each other,” in a different article for PBS.org. Considering that such a large portion of the United States allowed racially segregated schools as a result of the P v. F case, it is made painfully…

ssues Assignment IV: Courts in Relation to Abortion One of the most widely recognized court cases pertaining to the relativity of abortion within the Supreme Court in the United States of America is the case recognized as (Jane) Roe versus (Henry) Wade which to this day still holds influence in the federal court system and civil society. In short Roe v. Wade was a case in the Texas court system where an expectant mother, joined by another couple and her doctor, who was seeking an abortion in…

alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.” John Adams, who served as the second President of the United States and was a remarkable political philosopher, penned these words. Remarkably, John Adam’s words ring true today. However, morality is the issue and one point is sure: The United States Supreme Court should not arbitrate morality. In order to explain this position, one must first understand how…

The Dred Scott case reminds people the why the balance of powers was given to us and to look if the Supreme Court overstepped their boundaries. The purpose of the Supreme Court is to interpret the law based on the Constitution of the United States and any other documents that deal with the law of the land. The Dred Scott case is one that is difficult to decipher whether the court overstepped its boundaries due to the circumstances surrounding the issue. For example, there…

would bring equal rights to Blacks in the United States. Soon, five cases were filed in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Delaware on the behalf of elementary schoolers that were facing racial segregation in their school districts. The five cases were collectively heard by the Supreme Court as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In May of 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but equal” policy violated the fourteenth amendment, ending racial segregation in…

As the dust settled after the Civil War, the United States looked to rebuild and bring back together their broken country. In the South, the people were defeated and under the control of the North which resulted in the lives of the freed slaves becoming somewhat improved. But it was not long after that the ex-confederate states started to revert to their ways of treating the blacks as inferior. They passed a series of laws to attempt to restrict black’s freedom and continue to keep them as a…

train car set aside for white women. All of these indignities were violations of rights enumerated in the 1875 legislation. The Supreme Court analyzed these cases in view of the Fourteenth Amendment and concluded the Amendment was not designed to apply to private citizens or private organizations, but only to the federal and state governments. This decision resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1875 being invalidated, and opened the doors to blatant discrimination by businesses and individuals.…