A Constitutional Promise Against Caste

For the past three years, PolicyLink has been on a journey to find the durable, enforceable, and legally defensible framework that will advance a nation that governs for all.

That path has taken us deep into our Constitution. Along the way, we discovered a powerful truth—one consistently invoked by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment and everywhere present in the historical record: the Constitution prohibits government actions that create, reinforce, or perpetuate systems of social hierarchy.

Although motivated by the need to end the racial caste system, the framers wrote the Fourteenth Amendment in broad, universal language. They wanted to ensure that no caste system—racial or otherwise—could be created again.

This universal language carries profound implications for our work today. 

Read the latest commentary and learn more about the Fourteenth Amendment and its promise.