Incorporation of Bill of Rights Protections to the States

The 1st Amendment begins by stating "Congress shall make no laws ...," and originally the Bill of Rights protections were seen as applying only to the federal government. Early court decisions, such as Barron v. Baltimore (1833), reflected this belief. In this case, John Barron, who owned a wharf in Baltimore, sued the city on the grounds that the accumulation of sand in the harbor prevented deepwater ships from coming to his wharf, which lowered his profits. He claimed that this violated the 5th Amendment by depriving him of property without due process. The Supreme Court said it had no jurisdiction because the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states and dismissed the case.

This legal situation changed with ratification of the 14th Amendment (1868) in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Declaring that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, without due process of law," this amendment enabled the application of the Bill of Rights to the states. Over time, various court decisions applied the legal doctrine that provisions of the U.S. Bill of Rights apply to the states through the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, a principle called incorporation. For example, Mapp v. Ohio (1961) determined that the exclusionary rule applied to the states, and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) established the right to an attorney in state criminal trials. Incorporation has been implemented by the court on a piece-by-piece basis, applying specific clauses or provisions relevant to a particular case rather than incorporating the entire text of an amendment at once. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments have been fully incorporated; the 5th, 6th, and 8th have only been partly incorporated. The other amendments have not been incorporated at all.