Question A

Due to the Civil war that occurred in the USA, Congress submitted three amendments to states for reconstruction, so the black citizens are guaranteed equal legal and civil rights. The central provision for this amendment was to allow all people born or naturalized in the USA to be citizens of the nation. The provision also required that no state should deny any person of property, life or liberty without any due process of law. It also provided that the laws should offer every person within the country’s jurisdiction equal protection. After the debating over the 14th amendment was declared in July 1868, the necessary 28 states ratified it hence made part of the Supreme laws governing the land. The decisions made by the Supreme Court after the ratification of the 14th amendment in the late 19th centuries embraced the appropriate application process of the amendment and equal protection. The court started carrying out the due process despite the laws of the state that conflicted with the 14th amendment. For instance, they used the 14th amendment in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978 to admit Bakke to the University of California Medical School despite the conflicting cases. The Supreme Court was creative in the application of the 14th assessment to different legal cases because it gave choices and freedom but cleverly regulated the choices given not to conflict various sections of the law. For example, in the Roe vs. Wade case the Supreme Court became creative and legalized abortion in the USA by Saying that Americans had “rights to privacy.”  This gave choices to the mothers either to save themselves or the children. The other creative case was the Obergefell v. Hodges case. Justice Kennedy used the portion of the 14th amendment by arguing that personal choices were central to individual autonomy and dignity. Therefore intimate choices were left to be defined by personal beliefs and identity. The federal government could not be involved actively in regulating the economy because “laissez-faire” concept influenced their activities. The doctrine opposed interference of the government in the economy but only allowed them to maintain law and order. The Supreme Court interpreted the 14th amendment as the import of alleviating African-Americans discrimination. The court upheld racial segregation in much of the South on the grounds of separate but equal doctrine.

Question B

The Supreme Court evolved fast in the 1930s to intervene on the surging economy of the USA that resulted in great depression through striking down the new deals that were causing the problem. The court started its evolution in 1934 when many businesses started slanting their codes of NRA to give them higher profits than appropriate wages for labor and better goods prices for the consumer. Supreme Court regarded most of the measures of the new deals as unconstitutional to free enterprise and the state authority. In the mid of 1930s, the USA Supreme Court started rigorous striking of legislation of the New Deals as an unconstitutional exercise of the powers of the Congress. In Schechter Poultry Corp. v. The United States, the Court struck NIRA new deal legislation brought by Roosevelt. Schechter brothers distributed poultry in wholesale within New York State. The enterprise also gave small wages to its workers and made them to work for long hours too. The Court convicted them of violation of the wage- and- hour laws and the codes of live poultry. The court in one voice held that it is only trading between states that could be controlled by the federal government but not trade taking place within one state. The following year the Bituminous Coal Conservation was stroked by the Supreme Court, stating that its enactment was not in the powers of the Congress as provided by the constitution. The court had several legal actions against the legislation of the new deal but unfortunately due to resignations of a number of judges some of them remained unresolved. In the mid- 20th century the Supreme Court has been accommodative to rulings on cases involving freedom of religion and speech. The Supreme Court used four themes to give a ruling on cases pertaining to religion and speech as guaranteed in the first amendment.  These include Separation of Church and State, Equal treatment among religions, Integration of religion and politics and cooperation between sacred and secular activities in the context of religion.  For instance, in Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), the Court guaranteed Jehovah witness right to spread literature in support of their faith. Justice Willey Rutledge of Supreme Court stated that complete separation between state and religion is best for both the country and religion. Justice Tom also mentioned in the case of Abington v. Schempp that education without comparative religion is incomplete, showing that the Supreme Court rulings favored freedom of religion and speech.

Reference

MSSD, Ch. (2012). “The Supreme Court and the 14th Amendment.”

 
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