The Fourteenth Amendment Is Not Enforceable Against State and Local Governments

The claim that substantive provisions of the first eight amendments are enforceable against state and local governments is just nonsensical, Fr. Oders says. There is nothing in the record of the ratification of the fourteenth amendment that shows that, he adds. The chief proponent of this idea on the supreme court was a guy named william brendon, who cobbled gether majorities on the court to say that the constitution required whatever policy outcome they liked,. He said with five votes, i can do anything."