Fourteenth Amendment — Bunk History

U.S. Capitol building

Searching for the Perfect Republic

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

by Eric Foner, Ted Widmer via The Guardian on November 15, 2023

Group of freedmen and women posing for a picture.

How Could ‘Freedmen’ Be a Race-Neutral Term?

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

by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on July 7, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist testifies to a House Financial Services subcommittee about minting coins in commemoration of former Chief Justice John Marshall on March 10, 2004.

There’s Unsettling New Evidence About William Rehnquist’s Views on Segregation

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.

by Dahlia Lithwick, Richard L. Hasen via Slate on June 1, 2023

Wong Kim Ark in a photograph from a federal immigration investigation case conducted under the Chinese Exclusion Acts.

Everyone Born in the United States is a U.S. Citizen. Here’s Why.

From birthright freedom to birthright citizenship.

by Amanda Frost via Made By History on March 28, 2023

The American flag depicted upside down, in a beige color scheme.

Making the Constitution Safe for Democracy

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.

by Anthony Conwright via The Forum on August 17, 2022

Political cartoon of Andrew Johnson holding a leaking kettle labeled "The Reconstructed South" towards a woman representing liberty and Columbia, carrying a baby representing the newly approved 14th Amendment.

The Pro-Democratic Fourteenth Amendment

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

by Garrett Epps, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on July 22, 2022

Picture of the U.S. Supreme Court

Reading the 14th Amendment

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

by Earl M. Maltz via National Review on February 3, 2022

People holding protest signs

On the Fight for Black Voting Rights at the Turn of the 20th-Century

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

by Kerri K. Greenidge via Literary Hub on October 14, 2020

Drawing of two men on horse overlaid with writing regarding prejudice and civil rights

The 14th Amendment Was Meant to Be a Protection Against State Violence

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

by David H. Gans via The Atlantic on July 19, 2020

The Real Origins of Birthright Citizenship

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

by Martha S. Jones via The Atlantic on October 31, 2018

Can Trump Really End Birthright Citizenship?

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

by Imani Perry via Colorlines on October 30, 2018

The Struggle Over the Meaning of the 14th Amendment Continues

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

by Garrett Epps via The Atlantic on July 10, 2018

Citizens: 150 Years of the 14th Amendment

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

by Martha S. Jones via Public Books on July 9, 2018

Manuscript of the Fourteenth Amendment.

We Should Embrace the Ambiguity of the 14th Amendment

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

by Eric Foner via The Nation on July 9, 2018

The 14th Amendment Solved One Citizenship Crisis, But It Created A New One

How birthright citizenship became a barrier for undocumented immigrants.

by Martha S. Jones via Made By History on July 9, 2017

Southern Pacific Railroad engine met by a crowd of people in wagons.

The Birth of Corporate Personhood

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

via BackStory on June 20, 2014

Political cartoon showing Supreme Court Justice Sutherland handing a woman worker a decision on minimum wage.

The Most Conservative Branch

Stephen Breyer criticizes recent Supreme Court decisions and argues for a more pragmatic jurisprudence.

by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on August 29, 2024

Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Supreme Court Has Murdered the Constitution

America’s founding document is now an all-but-meaningless scrap of paper. Happy Fourth!

by Ryan Cooper via The American Prospect on July 4, 2024

Texas governor Greg Abbott at press conference

Texas Is Trying to Upend Who Controls Immigration Policy

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

by Kevin Kenny via Made By History on April 5, 2024

Why the Long Shadow of Bush v. Gore Looms Over the Supreme Court’s Colorado Case

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

by E. Tammy Kim via The New Yorker on February 7, 2024

A cartoon Trump is shooed away by a hand in a judge's robe

The Case for Disqualification

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

by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on January 30, 2024

When Constitutional-Law Professors Fight

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

by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on January 10, 2024

Photo of Donald Trump at a podium and pointing.

The Supreme Court Must Unanimously Strike Down Trump’s Ballot Removal

Excluding him, wrongfully, by a close vote of the Supreme Court could well trigger the next Civil War.

by Lawrence Lessig via Slate on December 20, 2023

Political cartoon of Trump praying at the foot of a Jefferson Davis statue.

What Happened When the U.S. Failed to Prosecute an Insurrectionist Ex-President

After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?

by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on December 4, 2023

Gen. Robt. E. Lee, 1886.

After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee Couldn't Run for President, but Trump Can?

Despite Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, a Colorado state judge stretches the word “officer,” permitting him to remain on the state’s ballot.

by Garrett Epps via Washington Monthly on November 20, 2023

Former U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on Aug. 6, 2022 in Dallas.

What Civil War History Says About Attempts to Use the Insurrection Clause to Keep Trump From Office

Debates about handling Confederates reveal that the 14th Amendment bars unrepentant insurrectionists from office.

by Elizabeth R. Varon via Made By History on November 15, 2023

A mobile of the American flag's stars and bars hanging over a cradle.

Why Republicans Keep Calling for the End of Birthright Citizenship

It’s about more than immigration.

by Martha S. Jones via The Atlantic on July 2, 2023

John Hart Ely.

The Liberal Giant Who Doomed Roe

His works underpins the Dobbs decision. His legacy matters enormously to what's next for constitutional law.

by Caitlin B. Tully via Slate on June 25, 2023

Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr., 1964

Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated

The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that “separate but equal” has no place in education.

by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2023

Collage of Supreme Court and 14th amendment-related images.

Reversing the Legacy of Slaughter-House

A careful examination of the Privileges or Immunities Clause shows what we lost 150 years ago.

by Ilan Wurman via Law & Liberty on April 3, 2023

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