by Timothy Sandefur
September 19, 2018
This year marks the 150th anniversary of one of the great milestones of constitutional liberty: the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees individual rights against state governments. Before it was enacted, courts had held that the Bill of Rights applied only against the federal government. Passed in the wake of a bloody Civil War, the new Amendment made clear that certain individual rights—life, liberty, property and what are referred to as the “privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”—are guaranteed against state oppression, as well.
On Friday, I’ll be speaking at George Mason University at a conference commemorating this victory, and you can read my paper, Rebuilding the Fourteenth Amendment, here. I reflect on the victories we’ve attained in the past 20 years in rescuing the Amendment from incorrect interpretations foisted upon it by courts in the intervening years—and discuss some of the obstacles that still remain. Specifically:
Due to some last-minute shuffling, I’ll be speaking on the first panel, about the generation that wrote the Amendment, and I’ll be discussing Frederick Douglass, rather than presenting this paper. But I’m sure we’ll have some fascinating exchanges during the Q&A. If you’re in the D.C. area, please join us!
Timothy Sandefur is the vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institute.
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