Bill of Rights and States rights

• In the decades after the Constitution's ratification, the Supreme Court initially declined to apply the Bill of Rights to limit state power.
• The 1833 case Barron v. Baltimore established that the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government, not state or local governments
• Chief Justice John Marshall stated the Constitution wasn't intended to protect people from their own state governments.
• The issue of enslaved persons' rights and the Civil War led to a reevaluation of applying the Bill of Rights to the states.
• After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, Southern states passed "Black codes" restricting former slaves' rights.
• Black codes limited the right to hold office, own land, or vote, relegating formerly enslaved people to second-class citizenship
• Radical Republicans in Congress sought to overturn the Black codes.
• They advocated suspending civilian government in Southern states and replacing discriminatory politicians and pushed for constitutional amendments to guarantee rights for freed people.
• The Fourteenth Amendment addressed civil liberties and rights, and the Fifteenth Amendment protected voting rights, excluding women and Native Americans.
• The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, clarified the scope and limits of civil liberties.
• The amendment states that no state can create or enforce laws that infringe upon the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.
• This echoes the privileges and immunities clause in Article IV, Section 2, of the original Constitution, ensuring equal treatment of citizens across states.
• The meaning of the privileges or immunities clause has been debated, regarding whether it extends the entire Bill of Rights or only some rights to the states.
• In Saenz v. Roe (1999), Justice John Paul Stevens argued that the clause protects the right to travel between states.
• Justice Clarence Thomas argued in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) that the individual right to bear arms applies to states through this clause.
• The Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause states that no state can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
• Similar to the Fifth Amendment, "due process" requires both procedural justice (like the right to a trial) and fair, impartial treatment by government officials.
• Courts have interpreted the due process clause to imply that states cannot deny certain fundamental liberties.
• In Sherbert v. Verner (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that states could not deny unemployment benefits to someone who refused a job requiring work on their Sabbath.
• Since 1897, the Supreme Court has selectively incorporated provisions of the Bill of Rights, requiring states to uphold fundamental liberties, even if state laws don't fully protect them.
• Selective incorporation means the Constitution effectively inserts parts of the Bill of Rights into state laws and constitutions, even without explicitly doing so.
• When cases arise, the Supreme Court determines whether state laws violate the Bill of Rights and are unconstitutional.
• The Fifth Amendment requires a grand jury indictment before a felony trial in federal court.
• A grand jury is a group of citizens that decides whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute someone for a crime.

Initially, the Bill of Rights didn't limit state power, as seen in Barron v. Baltimore (1833). Post-Civil War, Southern states' "Black codes" restricting former slaves' rights prompted Radical Republicans to advocate applying the Bill of Rights to the states.