Equal Protection Clause: To Eliminate Discrimination

The Equal Protection Clause came from Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S constitution that was ratified in 1868 stating the following points:

– All persons having birthplace in the U.S or have been naturalized in the United States and are subject to the jurisdiction will be the citizen of the United States and the State where they reside. 

-No state shall impose any law that shall hinder the privileges or immunities of the citizens

-States shall not bereave anyone of life, liberty, and property without due process of law

-Within its jurisdiction, no state should deny the equal protection of the laws.

Some of the questions that are often related to the clause are  “Who is entitled under the equal protection clause?”, “Why was such a clause made?” The intention behind implementing such a clause was to stop discrimination against the black that was done by the states and to give equal protection of law to everyone without having any discrimination.

The very first point of the clause states that :

All persons having birthplace in the U.S or have been naturalized in the United States and are subject to the jurisdiction will be the citizen of the United States and the State where they reside. 

It means no matter in which state a person resides if born in the United States or have been naturalized in the U.S, then he/she will have the citizenship of the United State and hence no state can put the question to his citizenship.

The second point of the clause states that:

No state shall impose any law that shall hinder the privileges or immunities of the citizens

It means the rights, freedom, and benefits of the citizens of the U.S should not be abridged by the law made by the states, that is the law should be made by considering the rights of the citizens.

The third point of the clause states that:

Noone should be bereaved of life, liberty, and property by the states without due process of law.

The point focuses that everyone should be given chance and equal legal rights, which may include hiring an attorney, confronting the witness, so that a fair proceeding may be done. No one should be sent to trial without justified and fair legal proceedings.

The fourth point of the clause states that:

Within its jurisdiction, no state should deny the equal protection of the laws.

The last point of the clause means that law should be equal for everyone, and the law will be equal for everyone, there should be no form of discrimination or biases against any group of people.

Examples of Fifth Amendment Cases: 

• Plessy v. Ferguson(1896): The case was that there was a violation of the equal protection clause as there were separate railway cars for blacks and whites. But in 1986 supreme court ruled that there was no violation of the equal protection clause as long as the facilities are equal that is “separate but equal.”
• Brown v. Board of Education(1954): It was the case in which black children were prohibited from getting admission to public school. The supreme court governed that racial segregation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. And the phrase ‘separate but equal’ has no place in the field of education.
• Bolling v. Sharpe(1954): In this case, the supreme court ruled that the equal protection clause applies to State and local governments.

 In brief, the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution could be stated as a law to remove any discrimination against African Americans and treat every citizen equally, that is the law should be equal to all. The clause is the very first section of the 14th amendment that was made to protect the rights, privileges, freedom of every citizen of the U.S. The Due Process is the only phrase that is used twice in the U.S. constitution first in the 5th amendment and then in the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.