The Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment
By a thirty-three to eleven vote, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed. Although, on July 9th, 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified to include, all natural born citizens as well as the protection of life, liberty and property. The purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to protect all the rights of the American people. There have been a few cases recently that were brought to the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the more recent U.S. Supreme Court cases is that of Obergefell v. Hodges. In this case 14 same-sex couples were arguing that a few select states were violating their Fourteenth Amendment rights by not allowing them to marry a person of the same sex. Two other cases were, Bethune-Hill et al. v. Virginia State
He was poor and unable to pay for his own defense. He appealed his convicted because of the court’s refusal to a court appointed attorney was in direct violation of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. At this time, the court was only granting the right to counsel in special circumstances. “The petitioner, in this instance, asks us, in effect, to apply a rule in the enforcement of the due process clause. He says the rule to be deduced from our former decisions is that, in every case, whatever the circumstances, one charged with crime, who is unable to obtain counsel, must be furnished counsel by the State” Betts v. Brady (1942). The holding by the Court in this case was that the Betts need not a lawyer in order to have a fair trial. Thus, the Court decided that counsel only needs to be appointed in certain trials but not all trials. This differed from Gideon v. Wainwright because in Gideon’s case the decision of Betts v. Brady was overturned. The decided that it was a violation of his due process rights. Rich and poor should both have the opportunity to counsel regardless. A defendant cannot properly defend themselves as well as a professional lawyer could, therefore, counsel needs to be granted if ask