Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • A specific amendment to the U.S. Constitution: The Fourteenth Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments, ratified in 1868. Its primary provisions include granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, guaranteeing all citizens "equal protection of the laws," and prohibiting states from depriving any person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • The Fourteenth Amendment fundamentally changed the relationship between the states and the federal government.
  • Landmark Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of Education relied on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
  • The principle of incorporation, applying the Bill of Rights to the states, is based on the Fourteenth Amendment.

Advanced Usage

• "to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment": to call upon or cite its protections in a legal or political argument.
  • The defense attorney will invoke the Fourteenth Amendment to argue that her client's due process rights were violated.
• "Fourteenth Amendment rights": the civil rights and legal protections guaranteed by this amendment.
  • The court's decision was a victory for Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Variants and Related Words

• Due Process Clause (noun phrase): The clause in the Fourteenth Amendment stating no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
• Equal Protection Clause (noun phrase): The clause in the Fourteenth Amendment requiring states to guarantee equal protection under the law to all persons.
• Incorporation Doctrine (noun phrase): The legal concept through which the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause applies most protections in the Bill of Rights to state governments.

Synonyms

• Reconstruction Amendment (general term for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments).

Related Phrases

• "under color of law": A legal term often associated with Fourteenth Amendment violations, meaning an act done with the apparent authority of law but which actually violates the law.
• "state action": A doctrine determining when the actions of a state or its agents are subject to scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Noun

1. an amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1868; extends the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to the states as well as to the federal government