The Twelfth Card

any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
    “This is part of section one of the Fourteenth,” he explained. “It drastically limits what states can do to their citizens. Another part, which I didn’t print out, gave states incentives to give blacks—well, black men —the right to vote. So, we’re clear so far?” asked the educator.
    “We’re with you,” Sachs said.
    “Now, the way an amendment to the Constitution works is that it has to be approved by Congress in Washington and then by three-fourths of the states themselves. Congress approved the Fourteenth in the spring of 1866, and it went to the states for ratification. Two years later it was finally ratified by the required number of states.” He shook his head. “But ever since then there’ve been rumors that it was never properly enacted and ratified. That’s the controversy I was referring to. A lot of people think it’s invalid.”
    Rhyme frowned. “Really? What do they say is wrong with the enactment?”
    “There were a number of arguments. Several states withdrew approval after they’d voted to ratify but Congress ignored the withdrawals. Some people say it wasn’t properly presented or approved in Washington. There were also claims of vote fraud in the state legislatures, bribery and even threats.”
    “Threats?” Sachs nodded at the letters. “Like Charles said.”
    Mathers explained: “Political life was different then. That was an era when J. P. Morgan got together a private army to shoot it out with troops hired by his competitors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk in arailroad takeover. And the police and the government just sat back and watched it happen.
    “And you must understand too that people were utterly passionate about the Fourteenth Amendment: Our country had nearly been destroyed, a half million people died—about as many as we’ve lost in all other wars combined. Without the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress could’ve ended up controlled by the South, and we might see the country split up again. Maybe even a second civil war.”
    He waved his hand at the material in front of him. “Your Mr. Singleton was apparently one of the men who went out to the states to lobby in favor of the amendment. What if he found proof that the amendment was invalid? That certainly could be the sort of secret that would torment him.”
    “So maybe,” Rhyme speculated, “a pro-amendment group set up the fake theft to discredit him. So if he did tell what he knew nobody’d believe him.”
    “Not the great leaders back then, of course, not Frederick Douglass or Stevens or Sumner. But, yes, there were certainly plenty of politicians who’d want the amendment passed, and they’d do anything to make sure that happened.” The professor turned toward Geneva. “And that would explain why this young lady’s in danger.”
    “Why?” Rhyme asked. He’d followed the history just fine but the broader implications were a bit elusive.
    It was Thom who said, “All you have to do is open a newspaper.”
    “And what does that mean?” Rhyme snapped.
    Mathers replied, “He means that every day there’re stories about how the Fourteenth Amendment affects our lives. You may not hear it mentioned specifically but it’s still one of the most powerful weapons in ourhuman rights arsenal. The language is very vague—what does ‘due process’ mean? Or ‘equal protection’? ‘Privileges and immunities’? The vagueness was intentional, of course, so Congress and the Supreme Court could create new protections to meet the circumstances of every generation.
    “Out of those few words have come hundreds of laws about everything imaginable, much more than just racial discrimination. It’s been used to invalidate discriminatory tax laws, to protect homeless people and underage laborers, to guarantee basic medical services for the poor. It’s the basis for gay rights and for thousands of prisoners’ rights cases every year. Maybe the most controversial was using the amendment to protect the right to abortions.
    “Without it, states could decide that abortion doctors are capital murderers. And now, after September eleventh, in our Homeland Security frame of mind, it’s the Fourteenth Amendment that stops the states from rounding up innocent Muslims and keeping them detained for as long as the police want.” His face was a mask of ill ease. “If it’s invalid, because of something your Charles Singleton learned, it could be