Equal Protection Clause

The Equal Protection Clause is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing that individuals in similar situations must be treated equally by the law. It was a primary motivation for the Fourteenth Amendment, which marked a shift in American constitutionalism by applying more constitutional restrictions against the states. The clause has been the basis for landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and Obergefell v. Hodges, and has been used to reject discrimination against various groups. The clause itself applies only to state and local governments, but the Supreme Court has held that the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires equal protection under the laws of the federal government. The Equal Protection Clause was a response to the inequality imposed by Black Codes following the American Civil War, and was influenced by the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which provided that all persons born in the United States were citizens.learn more on wikipedia