Scholars Edition: Tomiko Brown Nagin, 14th Amendment

0:06[Music] the 14th Amendment is a tremendously important component of our constitution in no small part it gave rise to the pluralistic Multicultural world that we take for granted today because of the 14th Amendment we are entitled to fundamental fairness called equal protection and due process of laws regardless of race sex or nationality by virtue of ways in which the courts and Congress have interpreted the amendment we benefit from bans on race and sex-based discrimination in publicly funded schools and colleges prohibitions on discrimination and employment protections for people with disabilities and for interracial couples States can't deny the right of same-sex couples to marry because of the 14th Amendment nor can States infringe on the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights including the freedoms of speech and of religion to assemble and to protest in

1:22short the 14th Amendment and legislation that Congress has enacted pursuant to it have made real the American ideal nevertheless the project of ensuring these rights is an ongoing one because the meaning of the 14th Amendment is not static it's Dynamic the courts in Congress through the judicial and legislative processes engage in an ongoing conversation about the proper scope of the amendment and of legislation enacted under its Authority the question of what the law is what it actually means continually arises in every generation you might see say the 14th Amendment hangs in the balance [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]