Fourteenth Amendment

On the 14th amendment – and if it might stop Trump.

An opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas exposed the limits of originalism.

The Supreme Court Justice's defense of Plessy v. Ferguson in a 1993 memo continues to influence the court's interpretation of the 14th amendment.

From birthright freedom to birthright citizenship.

The second section of the Fourteenth Amendment offers severe penalties for menacing the right to vote—if anyone can figure out how to enforce it.

At the heart of recent US Supreme Court decisions, the Fourteenth Amendment was framed to require free speech and free elections in the South.

A review of three books about Abraham Lincoln, the 14th Amendment, and Reconstruction.

A rally at Faneuil Hall in support of the Fourteenth Amendment and congressional investigation of southern disfranchisement.

The Supreme Court has betrayed the promise of equal citizenship by allowing police to arrest and kill Americans at will.

Its purpose 150 years ago was to incorporate former slaves into the nation.

Not directly. But it's more complicated than you think.

The fight over the 150-year old language in the Constitution is a battle for the very heart of the American republic.

In 1868, black activists had already been promoting birthright as the basis of their national belonging for nearly half a century.

A hundred and fifty years after its ratification, some of its promises remain unfulfilled—but one day it may still be interpreted anew.

How birthright citizenship became a barrier for undocumented immigrants.

How a legal footnote in a Santa Clara County railroad case and the judges who built on it created modern models of corporate personhood.

The federal government has long controlled immigration law—and for very good reason.

In the fight over keeping Trump’s name on the ballot, the 2000 decision is a warning but not a precedent.

Three years later, amid another national election, the American public is still slow to understand the enormity of January 6, 2021.

On the folly of relying on history to settle the debate over whether the Fourteenth Amendment should bar Trump from office.