In 1925, which case began applying the Bill of Rights to the states via the Due Process Clause?

• A. Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
• B. Gitlow v. New York (1925)
• C. Munn v. Illinois (1877)
• D. Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is how the Bill of Rights began to bind state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, known as incorporation. Gitlow v. New York (1925) is the pivotal case because it marked the first time the Supreme Court applied a First Amendment protection to the states via the Due Process Clause. In this decision, the Court held that states could not infringe on free speech and free press in the way the First Amendment restricts the federal government, effectively beginning the incorporation process that would later apply most of the Bill of Rights to states.

Before this, Barron v. Baltimore (1833) stood for the opposite idea—that the Bill of Rights limited only the federal government. The other options fit different legal questions: Munn v. Illinois deals with state regulation of business and not incorporation of civil liberties, and Palko v. Connecticut (1937) comes later as part of the ongoing development of selective incorporation, addressing double jeopardy rather than the initial step of applying First Amendment protections to the states.