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14th Amendment Definition

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14th Amendment Definition
A provision on equal protection in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution looks towards protecting the civil rights of people living in the United States and has been used in defining the right of individuals and groups living in the country. In analyzing the provision of equal protection in the 14th amendment, the courts consider three aspects. First is the type of classification that a particular group falls through, for example, suspect classification or any other classification that the court can create and interpret. After determining the classification, the courts will determine the level of scrutiny applied to the identified class, whether it is a strict scrutiny or an intermediate scrutiny. Lastly is the determination of the kind of action that …show more content…
Analyzing this clause of the 14th amendment has become of great concern because of the difficulties in determining the suspect class, with a blurred line on what minority group comprises of the suspect class.
A suspect class comprises of a class of individuals who are historically subject to discrimination. This suspect class doctrine has been criticized for being under-theorized. The law is consistently applied and operating to limit the recognition of new suspect classes. It applies to the minority groups such as people discriminated by race, religious affiliation, a nation of origin or alienation in a statute, policy or ordinance. There are some benefits of being included in the suspect group by the law. There is a strict scrutiny applied by the Supreme Court to any law that makes a distinction between individuals based on their suspect classifications. This is because there is some suspect class discrimination that requires some form of strict judicial scrutiny. Members of the suspect group can file a case when they are subjected to any

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