Browse the Constitution Annotated
Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Other Rights
- Amdt14.1Overview of Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Protection and Rights of Citizens
- Amdt14.2State Action Doctrine
Section 1 Rights
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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
- Amdt14.S1.1 Citizenship
- Amdt14.S1.1.1Historical Background on Citizenship Clause
- Amdt14.S1.1.2Citizenship Clause Doctrine
- Amdt14.S1.1.3Loss of Citizenship
- Amdt14.S1.2 Privileges or Immunities
- Amdt14.S1.2.1Privileges or Immunities of Citizens and the Slaughter-House Cases
- Amdt14.S1.2.2Modern Doctrine on Privileges or Immunities Clause
- Amdt14.S1.3Due Process Generally
- Amdt14.S1.4 Incorporation of Bill of Rights
- Amdt14.S1.4.1Overview of Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
- Amdt14.S1.4.2Early Doctrine on Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
- Amdt14.S1.4.3Modern Doctrine on Selective Incorporation of Bill of Rights
- Amdt14.S1.5 Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.1Overview of Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.2Liberty Deprivations and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.3Property Deprivations and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.4 Civil Cases
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.1Overview of Procedural Due Process in Civil Cases
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.2Due Process Test in Mathews v. Eldridge
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.3Notice of Charge and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.4Opportunity for Meaningful Hearing
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.5Impartial Decision Maker
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.6Additional Requirements of Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.7Power of States to Regulate Procedures
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.8Statutes of Limitations and Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.4.9Burdens of Proof and Presumptions
- Amdt14.S1.5.5 Criminal Cases
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.1Overview of Procedural Due Process in Criminal Cases
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.2Impartial Judge and Jury
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.3Identification in Pre-Trial Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.4Plea Bargaining in Pre-Trial Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.5Guilt Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.6Evidentiary Requirements in Criminal Cases
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.7Competency for Trial
- Amdt14.S1.5.5.8Due Process Rights of Juvenile Offenders
- Amdt14.S1.5.6 Criminal Cases Post-Trial
- Amdt14.S1.5.6.1Overview of Criminal Cases and Post-Trial Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.6.2Criminal Appeals and Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.6.3Probation, Parole, and Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.6.4Prisoners and Procedural Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.7 State Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.5.7.1State Taxes and Due Process Generally
- Amdt14.S1.5.7.2Assessment of State Taxes and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.7.3Notice of State Taxes and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.7.4Collection of State Taxes and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.8 Other Contexts
- Amdt14.S1.5.8.1Parental and Children's Rights and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.5.8.2Protective Commitment and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6 Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.1Overview of Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.2 Economic
- Amdt14.S1.6.2.1Overview of Economic Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.2.2Liberty of Contract and Lochner v. New York
- Amdt14.S1.6.2.3Laws Regulating Working Conditions and Wages
- Amdt14.S1.6.3 Noneconomic
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.1Overview of Noneconomic Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.2Historical Background on Noneconomic Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.3Informational Privacy, Confidentiality, and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.4Family Autonomy and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.5Marriage and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.3.6Sexual Activity, Privacy, and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.4 Abortion
- Amdt14.S1.6.4.1Abortion, Roe v. Wade, and Pre-Dobbs Doctrine
- Amdt14.S1.6.4.2Restrictions on Abortion Funding
- Amdt14.S1.6.4.3Abortion, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and Post-Dobbs Doctrine
- Amdt14.S1.6.5 Medical Care
- Amdt14.S1.6.5.1Right to Refuse Medical Treatment and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.5.2Physician Assisted-Death and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.6.5.3Civil Commitment and Substantive Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.7 Due Process Limits on State Action
- Amdt14.S1.7.1 Personal Jurisdiction
- Amdt14.S1.7.1.1Overview of Personal Jurisdiction and Due Process
- Amdt14.S1.7.1.2Personal Jurisdiction from Founding Era to 1945
- Amdt14.S1.7.1.3Modern Doctrine on Personal Jurisdiction
- Amdt14.S1.7.1.4Minimum Contact Requirements for Personal Jurisdiction
- Amdt14.S1.7.1.5Reasonableness Test for Personal Jurisdiction
- Amdt14.S1.7.2 State Taxation
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.1State Taxing Power
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.2State Jurisdiction to Tax
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.3Real Property and Tangible Personalty
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.4Intangible Personalty
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.5Transfer (Inheritance, Estate, Gift) Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.6Corporate Privilege Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.7Individual Income Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.8Corporate Income Taxes and Foreign Corporations
- Amdt14.S1.7.2.9Insurance Company Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.7.3Void for Vagueness
- Amdt14.S1.8 Equal Protection
- Amdt14.S1.8.1 Race-Based Classifications Generally
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.1Overview of Race-Based Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.2Equal Protection and Rational Basis Review Generally
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.3Marriage and Facially Non-Neutral Laws
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.4Judicial System and Facially Non-Neutral Laws
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.5Public Designation and Facially Non-Neutral Laws
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.6Public Accommodations and Facially Non-Neutral Laws
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.7Political Process Doctrine
- Amdt14.S1.8.1.8Peremptory Challenges
- Amdt14.S1.8.2 Segregation in Education
- Amdt14.S1.8.2.1Brown v. Board of Education
- Amdt14.S1.8.2.2Aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education
- Amdt14.S1.8.2.3Implementing School Desegregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.2.4Scope of Remedial Desegregation Orders and Ending Court Supervision
- Amdt14.S1.8.2.5Remaining Vestiges of Unconstitutional Racial Segregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.3 Segregation in Other Contexts
- Amdt14.S1.8.3.1Overview of Segregation in Other Contexts
- Amdt14.S1.8.3.2Housing and Segregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.3.3Transportation and Segregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.3.4Public Facilities and Segregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.3.5Private Businesses and Segregation
- Amdt14.S1.8.4 Facially Non-Neutral Laws Benefiting Racial Minorities
- Amdt14.S1.8.4.1Early Doctrine on Appropriate Scrutiny
- Amdt14.S1.8.4.2Modern Doctrine on Appropriate Scrutiny
- Amdt14.S1.8.5Facially Neutral Laws Implicating Suspect Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.6 Voting Rights
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.1Voting Rights Generally
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.2Voter Qualifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.3Partisan Gerrymandering
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.4Equality Standard and Vote Dilution
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.5Inequalities Within a State and Vote Dilution
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.6Racial Vote Dilution and Racial Gerrymandering
- Amdt14.S1.8.6.7Ballot Access
- Amdt14.S1.8.7 Non-Race Based Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.7.1Overview of Non-Race Based Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.7.2Alienage Classification
- Amdt14.S1.8.7.3Out of Wedlock Births
- Amdt14.S1.8.8 Gender-Based Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.8.1Doctrine on Gender Classifications from 1870s to 1960s
- Amdt14.S1.8.8.2Doctrine on Gender Classifications During the 1970s
- Amdt14.S1.8.8.3General Approach to Gender Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.8.4Facially Non-Neutral Laws Benefiting Women
- Amdt14.S1.8.9 Non-Suspect Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.9.1Meaning of Person in the Equal Protection Clause
- Amdt14.S1.8.9.2Meaning of Within Its Jurisdiction in the Equal Protection Clause
- Amdt14.S1.8.9.3Police Power Classifications and Equal Protection Clause
- Amdt14.S1.8.10 Economic Regulation and Taxing Power
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.1Overview of Economic Regulation and Taxing Power
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.2Classifications for State Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.3Foreign Corporations, Nonresidents, and State Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.4State Income Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.5State Inheritance Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.6Motor Vehicle Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.7Property Taxes
- Amdt14.S1.8.10.8Special Assessments
- Amdt14.S1.8.11Sexual Orientation-Based Classifications
- Amdt14.S1.8.12 Wealth-Based Distinctions
- Amdt14.S1.8.12.1Overview of Wealth-Based Distinctions and Equal Protection
- Amdt14.S1.8.12.2Criminal Procedures, Sentences, and Poverty
- Amdt14.S1.8.12.3Access to Courts, Wealth, and Equal Protection
- Amdt14.S1.8.12.4Educational Opportunity, Wealth, and Equal Protection
- Amdt14.S1.8.12.5Abortion, Public Assistance, and Equal Protection
- Amdt14.S1.8.13 Fundamental Rights
- Amdt14.S1.8.13.1Overview of Fundamental Rights
- Amdt14.S1.8.13.2Interstate Travel as a Fundamental Right
- Amdt14.S1.8.13.3Residency Requirements and Interstate Travel
Section 2 Apportionment of Representation
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
- Amdt14.S2.1Overview of Apportionment of Representation
Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
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 legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
- Amdt14.S3.1Overview of the Insurrection Clause (Disqualification Clause)
- Amdt14.S3.2Trump v. Anderson and Enforcement of the Insurrection Clause (Disqualification Clause)
Section 4 Public Debt
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
- Amdt14.S4.1Overview of Public Debt Clause
- Amdt14.S4.2Adoption of the Public Debt Clause
- Amdt14.S4.3Interpretation of the Public Debt Clause
Section 5 Enforcement
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
- Amdt14.S5.1Overview of Enforcement Clause
- Amdt14.S5.2Who Congress May Regulate
- Amdt14.S5.3Pre-Modern Doctrine on Enforcement Clause
- Amdt14.S5.4Modern Doctrine on Enforcement Clause