The First Amendment is expressly stated in the Constitution.

The Fourteenth Amendment has been used by the Supreme Court to overturn many court decisions in order to enforce equal rights. Specifically, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has been interpreted to prohibit states from discriminating against individuals based on race, gender, and other protected characteristics. This has led to landmark decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia.

Yes, US Supreme Court decisions are binding on bothfederal and state courts except in cases where the ruling involves an amendment or clause of an amendment not incorporated (legally applied) to the states. For example, decisions regarding the Third Amendment currently only apply to states in the Second Circuit; decisions regarding the Seventh Amendment, Grand Jury indictments, and excessive bail or fines currently apply only to the federal government.

Court decisions can be overturned by higher courts, with the highest being the Supreme Court. Once the Supreme Court has issued a ruling, it can only be overturned by another Supreme Court ruling if the court agrees to hear that case or a similar case again.

It is also possible for Congress to pass a law or constitutional amendment (with the help of the states, which must ratify any amendment), which can effectively overturn a Supreme Court decision by altering the law on which the decision was based.

The Supreme Court uses the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses to selectively incorporate individual clauses in the Bill of Rights to the states in order to make federal legislation and US Supreme Court decisions enforceable against and within the states. Without the Fourteenth Amendment, Supreme Court decisions would not be enforceable against any body except the federal government.

For more information, see Related Questions, below.