Also known as:Bill of Rights incorporation · incorporation doctrine · selective incorporation · incorporation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The constitutional doctrine by which most provisions of the Bill of Rights are applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
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Corporation Not At Home
State prosecutors charge a defendant with the same offense after a federal acquittal. The court bars the state trial because the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause applies to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause.
Pour-Over Devise Validated
A city ordinance bans handgun possession in public housing. A resident sues, claiming the Second Amendment protects the conduct. The court applies the incorporated right against the city and evaluates the ordinance under Second Amendment standards.
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Cases
Uniform Acts
Model Codes
Restatements
Course Outlines
After a state conviction for the same crime following an earlier federal acquittal, the defendant moves to dismiss. The court grants the motion, holding that the incorporated Double Jeopardy Clause prevents successive prosecutions by separate sovereigns in these circumstances.
Unattested Writing Validated
A state enacts a law requiring permits for all firearms in the home. A homeowner challenges the law under the Second Amendment. The court treats the Second Amendment as incorporated and assesses whether the permitting scheme unduly burdens the core right of self-defense.
Continuous Sales Not Enough
State police arrest a person for keeping a loaded handgun in the home for self-defense, relying on a total state-law ban. The defendant moves to dismiss on Second Amendment grounds. The court applies the incorporated right and strikes down the ban as incompatible with the Fourteenth Amendment.
LLC Citizenship Determined
A state court convicts a defendant who had already been acquitted in federal court for the identical conduct. On appeal the defendant argues double jeopardy. The appellate court reverses the conviction because the Fifth Amendment protection is incorporated against the states.
Common questions
Frequently Asked
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Which amendment incorporates most Bill of Rights provisions against the states?+
The Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause incorporates most Bill of Rights provisions against the states.
Does incorporation apply the Second Amendment to state and local governments?+
Yes. The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause.
How does incorporation affect a state university policy banning firearms in faculty housing?+
Incorporation subjects the policy to Second Amendment scrutiny, but a court may uphold it when the housing is a conditional employment benefit tied to documented safety concerns on campus property.
What test determines whether a state zoning rule violates an incorporated Second Amendment right?+
The court evaluates whether the rule categorically bars protected conduct in the home for self-defense or instead represents a permissible, geographically limited land-use regulation supported by public-safety evidence.
17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819)Business Associations
…in a State constitution or law to the contrary notwithstanding. Among the enumerated powers we do not find the word "bank" or "incorporation," but the Constitution does not, like the Articles of Confederation, exclude incidental or implied powers. The 10th Amendment omitted the word "expressly" and declared only that the powers…