cover of episode We The People: Equal Protection

We The People: Equal Protection

2024/8/15
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Throughline

Chapters

The 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, aimed to redefine American citizenship and rights, guaranteeing due process, equal protection, and liberty. It has shaped landmark Supreme Court cases and continues to be debated and reinterpreted.
  • The 14th Amendment was a response to the Civil War and aimed to address the status of newly freed African Americans.
  • It guarantees due process, equal protection, and liberty to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
  • Many landmark Supreme Court cases, including Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education, have been based on interpretations of the 14th Amendment.

Shownotes Transcript

The Fourteenth Amendment. Of all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the 14th is a big one. It's shaped all of our lives, whether we realize it or not: Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education, Bush v. Gore, plus other Supreme Court cases that legalized same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, access to birth control — they've all been built on the back of the 14th. The amendment was ratified after the Civil War, and it's packed full of lofty phrases like due process, equal protection, and liberty. But what do those words really guarantee us? Today on Throughline's We the People: How the 14th Amendment has remade America — and how America has remade the 14th (Originally ran as The Fourteenth Amendment)).Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)