Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
The notion of fairness (due process) is evident throughout a criminal proceeding. Because one is presumed innocent, most accused are allowed to go free on bail while awaiting trial. This is directly based on the fact that the accused is presumed innocent and therefore cannot have their liberty removed without being found guilty of a crime.
Due process is also the root of the discovery rules in the United States. It is the notion of fairness that requires that an accused be apprised of the evidence against him/her. Only by having this information revealed, can a person adequately prepare to defend themselves against either a civil or criminal allegation. In other words, it is only fair. If one is not aware of the specific allegations and proposed evidence, one cannot possibly prepare an adequate defense.
The impact of the 14th Amendment also comes into play when applied to who can fairly preside over a legal issue. Any judge who knows or should know that there may be a question of their ability to fairly preside...
This is true in both civil and criminal procedures. Thus, a judge whose daughter is alleged to have been killed by a defendant cannot preside over the criminal case against that defendant. Obviously, that judge could not be presumed to fairly adjudicate the action against the accused.
Civilly, depriving one of one's property is an extremely sensitive issue. The American dream of owning one's own home is manifest. It is precisely for this reason that mortgage companies must follow strict rules with regard to foreclosures. Without due process, it would not be fair to take one's home.
The above examples of the impact of due process are few, but they are extremely important in demonstrating the way that the 14th Amendment has affected the legal system in the United States at both the state and federal levels. Without the 14th Amendment, any state could enact and enforce laws which would, by design, deprive certain individuals of their life, liberty, or property.
14th Amendment The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution provides equal protection for all citizens in all manners of the law, at least in theory. In practice, equal protection is not executed perfectly, but it does remain an ideal to which each section of the criminal justice system can and usually does aspire. In the criminal justice system, all defendants are entitled to an attorney, which is why a public defender is
Amendments The Tea Party and the 14th and 17th Amendments At its core, the Tea Party identifies itself as a political faction intended to reduce what it perceives as the tyrannical power of the federal government over the rights of corporations, states and citizens. This is the perspective that underlies the Tea Parties aggressive posturing in recent political affairs and especially its vitriolic hostility toward President Obama. As a part of the
14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments of the United States Constitution took quite a long time to be fully realized for a number of reasons. The principle one, of course, is that the U.S. was designed to operate as a patriarchal, Anglo-Saxon-based society to benefit its principle citizens, white males. A cursory review of the recent court decision in which a Hispanic white male shot and killed an unarmed African-American
The Progressive Movement in the early twentieth century had a somewhat similar though less socialist-leaning agenda; regulation of business and the environment were major policies of Progressives. Theodore Roosevelt was the leading figure of the movement, along with Democrat William Jennings Bryant. In 1896, Bryant ran for President against McKinley in one of the most intense elections in United States history. Multiple parties and factions backed each candidate, and McKinley's
Powell was followed by the Court's decision in Brown v. Mississippi which threw out the coerced confession of a defendant in a state criminal case and was a harbinger of what would occur in the early 1960's by the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren (Brown v. Mississippi, 1936). The Warren Court began to exercise its influence on the area of Constitutional Law in the late 50's as
Reconstruction & the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments The Civil War remains one the most momentous events in American history. The survival of the United States as one nation was at risk and on the outcome of the war depended the nation's ability to bring to reality the ideals of liberty, equality, justice, and human dignity. The war put constitutional government to its severest test as a long festering debate over the power