Lesson 19: How Has the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment Changed the Constitution?

Lesson Objectives

When you have finished this lesson, you should  be able to

• define equal protection of the laws,
• explain why neither state governments nor the national government can deprive people of equal protection of the laws,
• explain the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation and why the Supreme Court abandoned it in Brown v. Board of Education,
• describe the categories that the Supreme Court now uses to decide cases challenging governmental actions that treat some people differently from others, and
• evaluate, take, and defend a position on how conflicts between or among rights should be resolved.