14th Amendment – Due Process
About
5/12/2015
This class takes a closer look at the Fourteenth Amendment and its role in substantiating due process of law in its first and fifth clauses.
While the Fifth Amendment procedurally declared one’s right to due process, the Fourteenth Amendment, as an integral part of the Reconstruction Amendments arising after the Civil War, grants Congress, and more generally the federal government, the right to enforce due process in the face of indiscretion on the part of a state. Therefore, the Fourteenth Amendment inherently restricts states’ rights as part of the Reconstruction Era, proclaiming that natural law rights of individuals cannot be violated by state or federal governments.
The class continued to reference various court cases that established the federal government’s right to enforce due process and enumerate each right involved in due process. The Ninth Amendment is further discussed regarding rights that are inherently protected by natural law even though they have not yet been enumerated.
The next class will also focus on the Fourteenth Amendment and its “Equal Protection Clause.”
Readings:
- Alien and Sedition Acts
- McCarthyism (Wiki)
- Executive Order #9066 – Japanese Internment
- Smith Act (Wiki)
- Church and State in Medieval Europe (Wiki)