equal protection of the laws

Cultural Dictionary

equal protection of the laws definition

A phrase in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requiring that states guarantee the same rights, privileges, and protections to all citizens. This doctrine reinforces that of due process of law and prevents states from passing or enforcing laws that arbitrarily discriminate against anyone.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet

equal protection of the laws
noun
a right guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and by the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendment

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Relevant Questions

What Is Equal Protection...

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Equal protection of the laws is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Matching Quote

"The policy of this country is a canal under American control. The United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control to any European power.... The capital invested by corporations or citizens of other countries in such an enterprise must in a great degree look for protection to one or more of the great powers of the world. No European power can intervene for such protection without adopting measures on this continent which the United States would deem wholly inadmissible. If the protection of the United States is relied upon, The United States must exercise such control as will enable this country to protect its national interests.... An interoceanic canal across the American Isthmus ... would be the great ocean thoroughfare between our Atlantic and our Pacific shores, and virtually a part of the coastline of the United States. Our merely commercial interest in it is greater than that of all other countries, while its relations to our power and prosperity as a nation, to our means of defense, our unity, peace, and safety, are matters of paramount concern to the people of the United States."

-Rutherford Birchard Hayes

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