“For most of its history, the Bill of Rights was not considered to apply to the states and their laws.”
For about 90 years, from 1833 to about 1925, roughly.
There were state court cases in the early 1800’s that invalidated state weapons laws based on the second amendment. In 1833, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights did not apply to the States in Barron v. Baltimore.
Then about 1925, the Supreme Court started, belatedly, saying that the 14th amendment applied the protections of some of the bill of rights to the states.
That is about 90 years out of 225, even though incorporation has been a hit and miss, slipshod process.
Thanks for the correction.
You’re right about incorporation being hit and miss. Which doesn’t seem to make much sense.
You’d think it would be all or nothing.