The Process of Gradual Incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the State Level in the United States of America till the End of the Sixties in the 20th Century Cover Image

Proces postupné inkorporace Listiny práv na státní úrovni ve Spojených státech amerických do konce 60. let 20. století
The Process of Gradual Incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the State Level in the United States of America till the End of the Sixties in the 20th Century

Author(s): Radim Seltenreich
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, Constitutional Law, Civil Law, Recent History (1900 till today), Comparative Law
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: civil rights; incorporation; Bill of Rights; 14th Amendment; U.S. Supreme Court

Summary/Abstract: In his article, the author deals with the issue of the “nationalization” of civil rights in the USA, by which, in the context of the issue, he means primarily the incorporation of civil liberties contained in the federal Bill of Rights at the level of individual states of he Union. As he explains, this incorporation was rejected until the Civil War based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Barron v. Baltimore in 1833. Other possibilities for such incorporation opened up after the passage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1868. However, even here, this solution was first rejected in the so-called “slaughterhouse cases” of 1873, when the “immunities and privileges clause” of the amendment was not used. The gradual incorporation of the Bill of Rights thus occurs only through the “due process clause” of the 14th Amendment, as evidenced in particular by the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court adopted in the 20th century. This whole process, which very well documents the issue of the federal system in the USA, is primarily completed in the 1960s.

  • Issue Year: 54/2024
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 81-94
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Czech
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