Incorporation Blog

Selective incorporation is a ruling of the Supreme Court that allows for parts of the Bill of Rights to be included in its interpretation of the 14th Amendment for a particular case. Basically, the Supreme Court is attempting to rule that only certain parts of the Bill of Rights apply to the 14th Amendment. American federalism seems to have slowed incorporation down- or at least a little bit. The cases that came to the Supreme Court had to go through state courts and lower federal courts, and sometimes the Supreme Court even changed its mind on the ruling of a certain incorporation. Barron v. Baltimore started the move towards incorporation, as Barron tried to argue that he must receive just compensation from the state for depriving him of his property. Barron used the 5th Amendment to bolster his plea, but this Amendment only protects one from the national government- not the state governments. So, the Supreme Court rejected Barron's plea. This case was held before the 14th Amendment(1833), so the story may have been much different if the case had been held in the 1880s. In Palko v. Connecticut, Palko argued that his murder sentencing had occurred because of "double jeopardy" and that he cannot be guilty according to the Constitution. But, since he was tried in state courts, the Supreme Court could not prove his innocence because double jeopardy was not one of the provisions of the Bill of Rights incorporated in the Fourteenth Amendment. Like Barron, Palko could not be helped because he was not a victim of the national government. Finally, in Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights protected by the due process clause in the 14th Amendment. This case is different from the other two because the Supreme Court actually does rule in favor of the people--free speech is protected by the 14th Amendment.