Question

How has the supreme court influenced the process of incorporating the bill of rights? Explain how palko and duncan changed the supreme court’s approach to selective incorporation.

Answer 1

Answer:

Incorporation, in United States law, is the doctrine by which portions of the Bill of Rights have been made applicable to the states. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, courts held that its protections only extended to the actions of the federal government and that the Bill of Rights did not place limitations on the authority of state and local governments. However, the post-Civil War era, beginning in 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment, which declared the abolition of slavery, gave rise to the incorporation of other Amendments, providing more rights to the states and people over time. Gradually, various portions of the Bill of Rights have been held to be applicable to state and local governments by incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870.

Explanation:

Answer 2

The US Supreme Court was very important in influencing the process of incorporation of the Bill of Rights. The Incorporation Doctrine was created to apply the Bill of Rights to the states because prior to this doctrine the bill was only applied to Federal court cases and government.

After the 14th amendment, the Supreme Court favored the “selective incorporation”. The selective incorporation idea is that the Supreme Court will incorporate only parts of amendments, not the amendment all at once. This came to light after the cases Palko v. Connecticut case and Duncan v. Louisiana case. The Palko case the Court decided to restrict incorporation of the Bill of Rights on a state level, this way the Court decided that “double jeopardy appeal was not essential to a fundamental scheme of ordered liberty”.  The Ducan case resulted in the Court expanding incorporation, the Supreme Court incorporated the 6th Amendment and determined that state courts should respect the right to a jury trial.