Which case is cited as the first time an amendment was incorporated through Supreme Court ruling?

• A. RR v Chicago (1897)
• B. Dred Scott v Sandford
• C. Brown v Board of Education
• D. Roe v Wade

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how the Bill of Rights began to bind states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause, a process called incorporation. The landmark moment came when the Supreme Court, in Gitlow v. New York (1925), held that protections like free speech and free press are fundamental rights that state governments must respect, not just the federal government. This established the mechanism by which most of the Bill of Rights was applied to the states over time.

Before this, Barron v. Baltimore (1833) had kept the Bill of Rights confined to federal action, which is why earlier cases didn’t incorporate. The other options refer to different topics—Dred Scott about citizenship and slavery, Brown v. Board about desegregation under equal protection, Roe v. Wade about privacy and abortion—and aren’t the case that first established incorporation.