Does the 14th amendment extend the rights of the US constition to the States?

Question

I.e. What about the 14 stops state action from trampeling on a federal right. What has caused certain rights to be incorporated?

Answer 1

I am afraid Richard has chosen a poor example, since it is arguable that nothing in the US Constitution prohibits individual states from establishing a state religion. Indeed, right-wing pundit David Limbaugh, in his book "Persecution: How the Liberals Feed Christians to the Lions," advocates for just that position. (I do not necesssarily agree with this, I only note that the argument can still be made.) In fact, as to many federal rights it remains to be decided whether a State can act contrary to the US Constitution.

What the 14th Amendment does is prohibit the States from abridging the privileges and immunities of US citizens, or from denying any person (which is broader than citizen) due process of law or equal protection. What is covered by that has been the subject of litigation over the years since, and not all of the Bill of Rights has been found to have been incorporated within the 14th Amendment. For example, it was not until 1967 that the speedy trial clause of the 6th Amendment was applied to the States, and the US Supreme Court has not yet determined whether the excessive bail clause applies to the States.

The 14th Amendment has been found to incorporate much of the federal Constitution's protections of the rights of US citizens, but it is incorrect, as of yet, to say all of them.

Answer 2

That's 'exactly' what the 14th does.

As the founders envisioned the country, the States had very broad powers to set their own laws, and their own constitutions. Then they had only to obey those constitutions. The Bill of Rights ONLY limited the power of the FEDERAL Government.

As an example, the 1st Amendment prohibited the Federal Government from creating a *national* religion. It didn't stop the States from creating a *state* religion - and 8 of the 14 States did indeed have an established religion.

After the 14th was passed, though, the 1st Amendment ban on 'government' creating an established religion extended to the states, and those states that had such had to disestablish them, and all the State level religious requirements for elected office became unconstitutional.

Richard