What is the process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states through Supreme Court decisions called?

Asked by: Dr. Americo Parker  |  Last update: December 24, 2025
Score: 4.4/5 (66 votes)

243 (1833). However, following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to impose on the states many of the Bill of Rights' limitations, a doctrine sometimes called incorporation against the states through the Due Process Clause.

What is the process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states?

Whereas incorporation applies the Bill of Rights to the states through the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, equality before the law is required under the laws of the federal government by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

What is it called when the Bill of Rights is applied to the states?

After the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court, through a string of cases, found that the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth amendment included applying parts of the Bill of Rights to States (referred to as incorporation).

What is the process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states called quizlet?

What is the incorporation doctrine? The process by which American courts have applied portions of the US Bill of Rights to the states, using the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

What is the process of gradually applying the Bill of Rights to the states?

Through the process of “selective incorporation,” most of the provisions of the first eight Amendments, such as free speech, freedom of religion, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, are applied against the states as they are against the federal government.

Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to the States

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Does the Bill of Rights have a state ratification process?

Once the Bill of Rights was ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791, it became part of the law of the land, and there was no legal need for any further ratifications.

How the Bill of Rights are extended to the states?

However, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) did forbid states to abridge the rights of any citizen without due process, and, beginning in the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court gradually applied most of the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to state governments as well.

What is procedural due?

Broadly speaking, procedural due process requires state actors to provide certain procedural protections before they deprive a person of any protected life, liberty, or property interest.

What is the process by which the Constitution was approved by the states called?

Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788.

What is the process called where the Supreme Court began applying certain Bill of Rights to the states instead of just the national government )?

However, today, the Bill of Rights represents a charter of national freedom—protecting us from abuses by both the national government and our state governments. Scholars refer to this as the process of incorporation—the case-by-case process of applying key Bill of Rights protections against state abuses.

What is due to process?

Due process is a requirement that legal matters be resolved according to established rules and principles and that individuals be treated fairly. Due process applies to both civil and criminal matters.

What is the process of incorporation?

The process of incorporation involves writing up a document known as the articles of incorporation and enumerating the firm's shareholders. In a corporation, the assets and cash flows of the business entity are kept separate from those of the owners and investors, which is called limited liability.

How has the Bill of Rights been applied to the states?

However, following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to impose on the states many of the Bill of Rights' limitations, a doctrine sometimes called incorporation against the states through the Due Process Clause.

What is the Bill of Rights in simple terms?

It spells out Americans' rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the States.

Which right isn't guaranteed in the First Amendment?

Incitement to Imminent Lawless Action

The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites people to break the law, including to commit acts of violence.

Which Amendment ended slavery?

13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)

What is the process by which the Constitution or amendments are approved called?

The first method of ratification requires three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify an amendment to the Constitution. U.S. Const. art. V. Alternatively, Congress may require that three-fourths of state ratifying conventions approve a proposed amendment.

What is the connection between ratification and the Bill of Rights?

Ratifying the Bill of Rights

On October 2, 1789, President Washington sent copies of the 12 amendments adopted by Congress to the states. By December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified 10 of these, now known as the “Bill of Rights.”

What is the process mentioned in the Constitution to allow new States to enter the Union?

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the ...

What is the right to due process?

The Fifth Amendment says to the federal government that no one shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The Fourteenth Amendment , ratified in 1868, uses the same eleven words, called the Due Process Clause, to describe a legal obligation of all states.

What is procedural due process principle?

Procedural Due Process focuses on the fairness of the processes used by the government before it can deprive an individual of life, liberty, or property, emphasizing adherence to established procedures. In contrast, Substantive Due Process concerns itself with whether laws themselves are fundamentally fair and just.

What is the legal term for a law that retroactively makes an act illegal?

In a legal context, ex post facto is most typically used to refer to a criminal statute that punishes actions retroactively, thereby criminalizing conduct that was legal when originally performed. Two clauses in the United States Constitution prohibit ex post facto laws: Article 1, § 9.

How did the Bill of Rights became applicable to the states?

Under the doctrine of “incorporation,” Supreme Court decisions incorporated many Bill of Rights guarantees into the 14th Amendment, applying them to state and local governments.

What extends the Bill of Rights?

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of ...

Can states override the Bill of Rights?

It is settled that states cannot nullify federal laws—though constitutional amendments giving them such power have been proposed. In other areas of law, though, the struggle persists.