The Fourteenth Amendment

Amendments · Ratified 1868

In short: Grants citizenship and guarantees due process and equal protection of the laws by the states.

The Full Text

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.

— The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified 1868

Ratified after the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment reshaped the relationship between Americans and their state governments. It has five sections; Section 1 — above — contains its most-cited and most powerful guarantees.

First, it settles citizenship: nearly everyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen of both the nation and their state. Then it imposes three limits on every state: it cannot abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens, cannot deny due process of law, and cannot deny anyone the equal protection of the laws.

The Equal Protection Clause is the engine behind much of modern civil-rights law — from desegregation to marriage equality. The Due Process Clause does double duty: it requires fair procedures, and through a doctrine called “incorporation,” it’s the mechanism that makes most of the Bill of Rights — your First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment protections — binding on state and local governments, not just the federal government.

In short: when a city police officer, a public school, or a state agency has to respect your constitutional rights, the Fourteenth Amendment is usually the reason why.

Key Points

  • Grants citizenship to nearly everyone born or naturalized in the United States.
  • 'Due process' — states must follow fair procedures before taking life, liberty, or property.
  • 'Equal protection' — states cannot deny anyone the equal protection of the laws.
  • It's the route by which most Bill of Rights protections now apply to state and local governments ('incorporation').

Leading Cases

  • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) — Racially segregated public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause.
  • Loving v. Virginia (1967) — Struck down state bans on interracial marriage.
  • Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) — Recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage under due process and equal protection.

Read the Official Source

Fourteenth Amendment (Constitution Annotated) →

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