The Bill of Rights is applied to the states through which amendment?

• A. 13th Amendment
• B. 12th Amendment
• C. 14th Amendment
• D. 15th Amendment

Answer: (C)

Rights in the Bill of Rights were originally protections only against the federal government. To make them binding on state governments, the courts use incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, applying the Bill of Rights to the states on a selective, case-by-case basis. This process is why most protections—like those guaranteeing speech, search and seizure, and counsel—now limit state actions as well as federal ones.

The other amendments mentioned address different issues: the Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery, the Twelfth changes presidential election procedures, and the Fifteenth prohibits denying the right to vote based on race. None of these establish the mechanism by which the Bill of Rights reaches the states.

So, the amendment that brings the Bill of Rights to state governments is the Fourteenth Amendment.