Selective incorporation applies to the states through which provision of the Constitution?

• A. Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.
• B. First Amendment.
• C. Seventeenth Amendment.
• D. Ninth Amendment.

Answer: (A)

Selective incorporation binds the states to many protections in the Bill of Rights through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause. Originally, the Bill of Rights limited only the federal government, but the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, prohibits state action that deprives persons of life, liberty, or property without due process and equal protection. The Supreme Court adopted a case-by-case approach, applying those fundamental rights to the states over time via the due process clause. That make the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause the vehicle for incorporating rights onto the states. The other amendments listed don’t serve as the mechanism for incorporation: the First Amendment rights are incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment, not by a separate clause; the Seventeenth Amendment and the Ninth Amendment address different topics and are not the vehicle for selective incorporation.