Palko v. Connecticut
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Palko v. Connecticut, was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy.
In 1935, Frank Palko, a Connecticut resident, broke into a local music store and stole a radio, proceeded to flee on foot, and when cornered by law enforcement, killed 2 police officers and made his escape. He was captured a month later.
Frank Palko had been charged with first-degree murder but was instead convicted of the lesser offense of second-degree murder and given a sentence of life imprisonment. Prosecutors appealed per Connecticut law and won a new trial, in which Palko was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Palko appealed, arguing that the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy applied to state governments through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Applying a subjective case-by-case approach, the Court disagreed and upheld Palko's conviction, arguing that only fundamental rights, those rights that are central to the concept of "ordered liberty", are protected under the Due Process Clause. Speaking for the majority, Justice Cardozo listed freedom of thought and speech as being chief among such rights.
The Court eventually reversed course and incorporated the protection against double jeopardy with its ruling in Benton v. Maryland (1969).
