Executive Summary Shortly after the Civil War, the American people amended the Constitution in an effort to better protect individuals against state violations of their rights. Under the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the new Fourteenth Amendment, constitutional guarantees against the federal government could be raised for the first time against state governments as well. But 125 years ago, in 1873, in the infamous Slaughterhouse Cases, a deeply divided Supreme Court effectively eviscerated the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Since then courts have tried to do under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the amendment what should have been done under the more substantive Privileges or Immunities Clause. The result has been an erratic and often groundless Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence that has pleased neither liberals nor conservatives, yet both oppose reviving the clause.
Liberals tend to favor the latitude judges now have.
Both sides are wrong. Liberals need to appreciate that a properly read and applied clause will better protect individual rights. The Cato Institute Please send comments to webmaster .