The 14th Amendment weakened the power of the states in that D. it made the federal government the protector of individual rights. Prior to the 14th Amendment, states had the ability to determine individual right on a state by state basis meaning that if you went from Virginia to New York, the rights that apply to you might be very different. Most recently, the 14th Amendment has been used to determine the constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry. Prior to the Supreme Court's recent decision, states had the ability to set their own laws regarding the matter meaning if a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts moved to South Dakota, that state would not recognize their union since they banned same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court ruled that the right to marry is constitutional and extends across the entire nation thereby nullifying any remaining laws that might say otherwise.
