Of the Search for Original Intent: Curtis on the Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights

• NCJ Number: 116860
• Journal: Law and Social Inquiry Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1988) Pages: 583-618
• Author(s): McN Smith
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 36 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This book reviews traces the evolution of the incorporation doctrine holding that ratification of the fourteenth amendment in 1868 put an end to the dispute about whether States were exempt from the Bill of Rights, examines criticism of the incorporation doctrine by former Attorney General Meese and others, and reviews Michael Curtis's book No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

Abstract

Attorney General Meese's proposal would exempt the States from compliance with the Bill of Rights, while Curtis argues that the fourteenth amendment was intended to force States and the National government to protect the civil liberties of freed slaves and whites. Curtis argues that the language of the fourteenth amendment was broad enough to cover not only the Federal Bill of Rights but also other fundamental rights. Additionally, Curtis points out how the U.S. Supreme Court failed to perceive the full intent of the framers of the fourteenth amendment. The new federalism advocated by former Attorney General Meese is viewed by Curtis as a perversion of the Fourteenth amendment. An appendix contains restrictions on speech, press, and religion in North Carolina in 1850-61. 60 footnotes.