which amendment forbids states to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment echoes that of the Fifth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment, however, applies only against the federal government. After the Civil War, Congress adopted a number of measures to protect individual rights from interference by the states. Among them was the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the states from depriving âany person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.â When it was adopted, the Clause was understood to mean that the government could deprive a person of rights only according to law applied by a court.