Re: seperation of church & state?

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On 7/26/04, anonymous wrote:
>
>
> Am not sure which one it is, but I think one of the amendments to
> the Constitution expressly extends the Bill of Rights to cover
> state legislatures. If I am not mistaken, it is the 14th Amendment
> that does this; will have to check my copy of the Constitution when
> I get home.

Passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868 did not "automatically" make
the Federal Constitution applicable to the states, although you are
correct about the 14th, yes. Many of the bill of rights
were "selectively incorporated" through SC decisons to apply to the
states. The non admissibilty of illegally siezed evidence,("fruit of
the poisonous tree") under the 4th amendment, through the 14th, was
not made applicable to state prosecutions until, from memory here,
1964 in Mapp v. Ohio. Decisions throughout the years incorporated the
Bill of Rights into state jurisprudence.

A few of them still do NOT apply to the states, the 2nd amendment, as
many believe do, does not, the 7th amendment, or the trial of a civil
suit by jury over $20.00.