What doctrine did Gitlow v. New York help establish?

• A. Incorporation via Due Process Clause
• B. Right to bear arms under Second Amendment
• C. Establishment Clause limits
• D. States retain freedom without incorporation

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is selective incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Gitlow v. New York set the precedent that protections in the First Amendment—freedom of speech and of the press—bind state governments just as they bind the federal government. The Court ruled that although a state could convict someone under its own laws, the protections of the First Amendment limit what states can do, via the Fourteenth Amendment. This case marks the start of applying Bill of Rights protections to the states, one by one over time, rather than all at once.

The other options don’t fit: the right to bear arms relates to the Second Amendment and its later incorporation (not Gitlow); Establishment Clause limits concern church–state separation and are not the doctrine Gitlow established; and the idea that states retain freedom without incorporation is the opposite of what Gitlow established.