News & Analysis
Essays, analysis, and news about the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution — plus updates from the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy.
Here you’ll find everything from quick takes to deeper dives to Center news and events — with a special emphasis on the people who have made or are making the promise of the 14th Amendment real today.
‘We Are the Founders of the Next Iteration of Our Democracy’
A message from Sherrilyn Ifill on the occasion of We The People: Lessons from the Unsung Re-Founders of Our Nation.
Sherrilyn Ifill, founding director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy, is a leading contributor to the film.
This fall, a joint event in Baltimore by the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy and the Gibson–Banks Center for Race and the Law.
The Trump administration is proposing changes that would dramatically alter who gets counted in the United States.
A pair of executive orders issued in the wake of Trump v. Barbara once again flout the clear language of the 14th Amendment.
Image: 14th Amendment Center
A round-up of all the places and happenings where we uplifted the centerpiece of our Constitution.
"The lost cause." Currier & Ives. 1872. Library of Congress.
Resource
Birthright Citizenship, In Context
A collection of articles, scholarship, webinars, and other materials about the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Breaking new ground, the Supreme Court of the United States exults a founding document that doesn’t exist.
Section 4 of the amendment bars the government from paying any debts “incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
During a visit to Capitol Hill, students in Prof. Sherrilyn Ifill’s 14th Amendment seminar presented research on remedial measures Congress could take in documented cases of voter disenfranchisement.
The decision is a culmination of the justices’ project, many years in the making, of undermining the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — and with it our multiracial democracy.
More from the 14th Amendment Center
Reflection
Ketanji Brown Jackson Uplifts the ‘Universalist’ Purpose of the 14th Amendment
Cristian Farias Jul 4, 2026
Event
“That the Work This Time Shall Finally Be Done” Explored 14th Amendment’s Role in Next Refounding
Cristian Farias Apr 13, 2026
Amicus Brief
Our Supreme Court Brief in Support of Birthright Citizenship
Cristian Farias Mar 1, 2026
In Images
Frederick Douglass on Citizenship
Cristian Farias Feb 14, 2026
Reflection
The Year in Review, and the Year Ahead
Sherrilyn Ifill Jan 1, 2026
Commentary
The Other Constitutional Crisis
Sherrilyn Ifill Nov 5, 2025
Analysis
A Tale of Two Section Twos
Sherrilyn Ifill Oct 17, 2025
In Trump v. CASA, there are strong echoes of the Reconstruction Court.
A close-up of a photograph of the original 14th Amendment. Library of Congress.
Originally published in the Howard Law Journal, this essay by Sherrilyn Ifill offers a vision on how to make the centerpiece of Reconstruction come alive again.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to receive news, updates, and more from the 14th Amendment Center.
Library of Congress
Featured Map
“Distribution of the Colored Population of the United States: 1890”
This map, published by the Department of the Interior, Census Office, in the Statistical Atlas of the United States, based on the results of the 11th Census, shows where Black people lived post-Reconstruction.