its creation. A prominent case concerning the Fourteenth Amendment is Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), in which the Supreme Court deemed racial segregation unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka repealed Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), in which the Supreme Court sustained racial segregation laws in public facilities. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Citizenship, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clause provided the justification that separating individuals based upon race was discriminatory.
Another prominent case featuring the Fourteenth Amendment is Roe v. Wade (1973), in which the Supreme Court declared their verdict on the issue of abortion. The Supreme Court stated that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment included a section on an individual’s right to privacy, which applied to a female’s decision to conduct an abortion, by extension. Although Roe v. Wade didn’t eliminate concerns revolving around the issue of abortion, it maintained the rights of women.
The Fourteenth Amendment was utilized in Reed v. Reed (1971), which dealt with discrimination based upon gender. The Supreme Court utilized the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, in order to declare that the fact that the Idaho Code applied a specific preference in regards to gender when appointing administrators of estates was unconstitutional. Idaho amended its discriminatory statutes because of Reed v. Reed.
Although the Fourteenth Amendment was initially ratified as a Reconstruction Amendment (along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendment) in 1868, in order to safeguard the liberties of former slaves, it is currently utilized to maintain the liberties of individuals who reside in the United States. Through landmark cases, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Roe v. Wade, and Reed v. Reed, the Fourteenth Amendment has maintained the civil and legal rights of the citizens of the United States.