“Careful adherence to the 'state action' requirement preserves an area of individual freedom by limiting the reach of federal law and federal judicial power. It also avoids imposing on the State, its agencies or officials, responsibility for conduct for which they cannot fairly be blamed.
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.
The Equal Protection Clause requires the government to have a valid reason for any law or official action that treats similarly-situated people or groups of people differently.
The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution contains a number of important concepts, most famously state action, privileges or immunities, citizenship, due process, and equal protection—all of which are contained in Section One.
The Equal Protection Clause requires the government to have a valid reason for any law or official action that treats similarly-situated people or groups of people differently.
The principle is stated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution: "No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This is referred to as the “Equal Protection Clause.”
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.
The Fourteenth Amendment only applies to actions by state governments (state actions), not private actions. Consider, for example, Obergefell, which involved the fundamental right to marry. Some state laws interfered with that right.
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.
The right to due process of law and equal protection of the law now applied to both the federal and state governments. On June 16, 1866, the House Joint Resolution proposing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states.