# Simple question about the US Constitution **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778 "2006-11-17T02:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/1 "2006-11-17T02:52:33Z")
I just need to check one thing. The US Constitution restricts _only_ the Federal government, right? The states are not in any way bound by the US Constitution but by their own state constitutions? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/2 "2006-11-17T03:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] I just need to check one thing. The US Constitution restricts _only_ the Federal government, right? The states are not in any way bound by the US Constitution but by their own state constitutions? [/QUOTE] No, that’s not correct. I’ll give an example — the 14th Amendment has been interpreted to apply some of the Bill of Rights to the states. Freedom of speech (the 1st) is one of the Amendments that has been applied to the states through the 14th. Therefore, states cannot make any law “abridging freedom of speech.” So it is incorrect to say that the states are not in any way bound by the US Constitution. It is the supreme law of the land. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/3 "2006-11-17T03:12:09Z")
So it comes down to the wording of the individual sections? The first amendment starts “Congress shall make no law…”, so it restricts Congress only (except via the 14th, in this case), but the fourteenth reads in part “No State shall make or enforce any law…”, and so restricts the states? What does this mean for, for example, the second amendment, which simply states that the right to bear arms “shall not be infringed”, but doesn’t specify Congress, state or any other body? Are the states bound by the second amendment? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/4 "2006-11-17T03:13:37Z")
There are actually provisions within the original Constitution regulating matters regarding the states, (ability (or lack) to set interstate tarriffs, some areas of jurisprudence, etc.), but the 14th Amendment has been interpreted to extend nearly all of the guarantees of personal rights to the state level. In additon, the Commerce Clause has been interpreted to extend Federal jurisdiction to business laws throughout the country. A state may provide for greater guarantees of personal rights, but it may not impose restrictions on rights preserved by the (curtrent interpretation) of the U.S. Constitution. (This is why _Roe v Wade_ decriminalized abortion throughout the country, not just in Texas.) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/5 "2006-11-17T03:18:29Z")
You could always ask [the experts over here](http://www.usconstitution.net/yabb/YaBB.cgi). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/6 "2006-11-17T03:23:53Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] So it comes down to the wording of the individual sections? [/QUOTE] No. [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_%28Bill_of_Rights%29) the wiki article on “Incorporation of the Bill of Rights.” It does a good job of listing the Amendments and whether or not they are incorporated. From that link: > [@](#): > > Amendment II > > ``` > * Right to bear arms > o Has not been incorporated. (See Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886); United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1875).) > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/7 "2006-11-17T03:26:10Z")
Article IV of the Constitutution is about the states: [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article04/](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article04/) Article VI discusses the Supremacy of federal law, among other topics: [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article06/](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article06/) The original Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government, but the Court has held that parts of it are incorporated into the 14th amendment: [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/conlaw/incorp.htm](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/conlaw/incorp.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/8 "2006-11-17T03:29:48Z")
It may be obvious from other posters but the Supreme Court (one of the three branches of government composed of 9 justices appointed for life) is the body charged with interpreting what the Constitution means. The Supreme court takes cases that may have constitutional impact and rules on them in the context of the Constitution. The decisions often have much greater impact than the individual case at hand and how the Constitution applies can change slowly over time or even abruptly depending on the ruling. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/9 "2006-11-17T03:45:21Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] You could always ask [the experts over here](http://www.usconstitution.net/yabb/YaBB.cgi). [/QUOTE] “experts” might be a bit strong. I was not familiar with that board, so I spent some time browsing. IMO, the quality of the information provided was uneven. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-about-the-us-constitution/380778/10 "2006-11-17T04:24:35Z")
The simplest answer, without getting into rights, delegated and reserved powers, etc., is found in the second paragraph of Article VI, the “linchpin of the Constitution” > [@](#): > > This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. > > The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Section 10 of Article I lists a number of things which States are prohibited from doing. Section 8 lists the areas in which power to legislate is delegated to Congress (which has the right to supersede any state regulation in those areas of authority if it chooses). Article IV in its entirety deals with requirements upon states by virtue of their being a part of the Union. Amendment X specifies that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution or prohibited by it to the states, are the exclusive remit of the states. Amendment XIV, Section 1 restricts the states from impairing the rights of citizens of the United States (which are all persons born or naturalized in the US). Jurisprudence applying this amendment has been **very** complex, and lots of threads in GD have dealt with its applications, but in essence, if the Constitution guarantees a right, including those “fundamental rights” not listed but inferrable, such as the right to free association, the right to marry, the right to travel, and probably a right to privacy, no state can infringe on that right without some darn good reason – and there are degrees of “darn good reason” applicable to different circumstances. In one of the oddities of the Constitution, Amendment XXI, repealing Prohibition, empowers the states to regulate the import of intoxicating liquors, separately from the interstate commerce clause that governs all other commerce that crosses state lines or anything else that affects such commerce.