During the first Congress of 1789, Representative James Madison was the driving force behind the Bill of Rights. Madison believed that the new Constitution had carefully limited powers and was not the main threat to individual rights and liberties. He was particularly concerned that the state governments would violate rights and be tyrannical. Therefore, he wanted to curtail the states with the Bill of Rights.
However, members of Congress refused to restrict the powers of the state government. and argued that individuals in the states were already protected by the state constitutions and bills of rights. Madison lost that debate, and the Bill of Rights applied to the national government.
The states ratified the first ten amendments. This meant that states could theoretically pass laws that violated provisions set in the Bill of Rights. So was this the best system?
Or should the Bill of Rights be applied or incorporated to protect fundamental rights at the state level? Today, we discuss the constitutional interpretation of incorporation. In 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified and aimed to protect the rights of African Americans who were forever freed by the 13th Amendment. The 14th Amendment was primarily aimed at the states because during Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans in Congress were particularly interested in protecting freed people from having states violate their rights. These included black citizenship, guaranteed privileges and immunities.
equal protection of the law, and due process of the law. The clause of which reads, Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. This was important, as over time, the Supreme Court used this due process clause to assert that the 14th Amendment could apply the Bill of Rights to the states in what was called the Incorporation Doctrine.
The Supreme Court enforced this despite the fact that the Fifth Clause of the Amendment states that Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This development of the incorporation doctrine would gradually become an integral part of Supreme Court decisions over the course of the next few years. the fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the states.
The Court soon followed this decision with the 1931 Neer v. Minnesota ruling, which prevented prior restraint on the press and publishing material. The Court emphasized the importance of the statute and ruled that it transcended local interests, stating, It is no longer open to doubt that the liberty of the press is safeguarded by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from invasion by state action. Later, during 1947's Adamson v. People of the State of California case, Justice Hugo L. Black would transform the acceptance of incorporation in the 1960s and beyond. In his scathing dissent, Black wrote that the 14th Amendment provided a total incorporation of the Bill of Rights, as they were fundamental rights. Felix Frankfurter and the rest of the court resisted Justice Black's total incorporation.
However, the court did begin to increasingly apply selective incorporation in several cases. In later cases related to the rights of the accused, the court has often incorporated the Bill of Rights in favor of the plaintiff. These include Matt v. Ohio in 1961, which dealt with warrantless searches. Additional seminal cases of incorporation deal with religious establishment and schools, such as Everson v. Board of Education in 1947 and Engel v. Vitale in 1962. The incorporation of the Bill of Rights has been a controversial doctrine throughout the 20th and 21st century. Different cases have incorporated.
different amendments individually during that span to varying opinions. As of 2020, six amendments from the Bill of Rights have been at least partially incorporated. Consider this. Does the incorporation doctrine pit the principle of fundamental rights against the principle of federalism?
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