Which two Supreme Court cases are identified as the most recently incorporated liberties?

• A. Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010)
• B. Roe v Wade
• C. Gideon v Wainwright
• D. Plessy v Ferguson

Answer: (A)

The essential idea here is how the Supreme Court uses the Fourteenth Amendment to apply Bill of Rights protections to state governments through the process of selective incorporation. The two most recently incorporated liberties are the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, first recognized in Heller (2008) and then extended to the states in McDonald (2010). Heller established that individuals have a personal right to possess firearms for self-defense in the home, and McDonald extended that protection to state and local governments by incorporating the Second Amendment against the states via the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.

Roe v. Wade is about abortion rights and privacy, not a late incorporation of a specific right. Gideon v. Wainwright is an earlier case expanding the right to counsel, and Plessy v. Ferguson is an older, overturned case about segregation.