Question

Hey, I've been doing this for like an hour so I need your help please make it simple because I read a bunch of articles and watched videos but still do not understand.

the incorporation doctrine has been used to apply the bill of rights to the states and not just to the federal government. Explain how the Incorporation Doctrine serves to safeguard individual rights. Give examples of freedoms it protects and at least one specific example of when it has been used.

Answer 1

The incorporation doctrine is a constitutional doctrine through which the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution (known as the Bill of Rights) are made applicable to the states through the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Incorporation applies both substantively and procedurally. Prior to the doctrine's (and the Fourteenth Amendment's) existence, the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government and to federal court cases. States and state courts could choose to adopt similar laws, but were under no obligation to do so.

After the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court favored a process called “selective incorporation.” Under selective incorporation, the Supreme Court would incorporate certain parts of certain amendments, rather than incorporating an entire amendment at once.

Some argue that Privileges or Immunities Clause is a more appropriate textual basis than the due process clause for incorporation of the Bill of Rights but because Slaughter-House Cases dealing with this clause are surrounded by controversy this theory is not supported by the majority of the court.

Does this help?