The historic 14th amendment granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves.
It guaranteed all U.S. citizens “equal protection under the law.”
It authorized the federal government to punish states that violated their citizens’ rights to vote.
The amendment said that anyone who rebelled against the United States could not hold civil, military, or elected office.
Neither the United States nor any state could be forced to pay for debts incurred by the Confederacy during the Civil War.
It gave Congress the power to make laws that enforce this amendment.
The 14th Amendment made the news after Democratic lawmakers forces President Joe Biden to invoke his constitutional authority under it to raise the nation’s debt limit without involving Congress.
Senators in a letter to President Biden claimed, Using this authority would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on time, without delay, preventing a global economic catastrophe.