All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is one of the nation's most important laws relating to citizenship and civil rights. Ratified in 1868, three years after the abolishment of slavery, the 14th Amendment served a revolutionary purpose — to define African Americans as equal citizens under the law.
Procedural due process refers to the constitutional requirement that when the government acts in such a manner that denies a citizen of life, liberty, or property interest, the person must be given notice, the opportunity to be heard, and a decision by a neutral decision-maker.
Not only did the 14th Amendment fail to extend the Bill of Rights to the states; it also failed to protect the rights of Black citizens.
(the Due Process Clause requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements included in the definition of the offense of which the defendant is charged; thus, when all of the elements are not included in the definition of the offense of which the defendant is charged, then the accused's due ...
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State ...
The Fourteenth Amendment was one of three amendments to the Constitution adopted after the Civil War to guarantee black rights. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, the Fourteenth granted citizenship to people once enslaved, and the Fifteenth guaranteed black men the right to vote.
Ratification Process: The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by Ohio on January 4; New York on January 10; Kansas on January 11; Illinois on January 15; West Virginia, Michigan, and Minnesota on January 16; Maine on January 19; Nevada on January 22; Indiana on January 23, and Missouri on January 25.
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.
In the resulting Supreme Court case, the Court ruled that a woman's decision to have an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy fell under the right of privacy and thus was protected by the Constitution.