The court takes the view that it limits the ability of states to exercise police powers in a way that interferes with individual liberties (e.g. — The language of the Fourteenth Amendment requires the provision of due process when an interest in one's "life, liberty or property" is threatened.Ratified in 1868, Congress and the courts have applied the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause to many aspects of public life over the past 150 years. All persons lawfully in this country shall abide 'in any state' on an equality of legal privileges with all citizens under nondiscriminatory laws. In this lesson, students will learn how the Fourteenth Amendment impacted the history of civil rights in the United States within a focused context. A section of an amendment put in place to punish Confederate officers in 1868 be used to keep President Trump from running for office in the future? ' Still, over 100 years after passage of this amendment, Americans had not yet come to a complete agreement on its meaning. The Bill of Rights, setting limitations on Congress, originally applied only to the national government. Essential Question: How has the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause affected racial discrimination in the United States?