evassar92I am by no means a professor or “constitutional scholar”, but I feel, after having read most of the professors books, that the Bill of Rights was never intended to be applied to the States. In fact, there were those during the ratification who believed a Bill of Rights was unnecessary on two accounts. First, the enumerated list of powers in Article 1, Section 8 does not grant Congress the power to regulate or legislate on the things to be protected by the Bill of Rights i.e. Speech or Gun ownership. Second, most of the States had a Bill of Rights in their own State constitutions, so, therefore, a Bill of Rights in the Federal constitution was unnecessary.
As for the Bill of Rights being “incorporated”, usually argued because of the “due process” clause of the 14th Amendment, in my opinion, is complete bunk. I read Raoul Berger’s Goverment by Judiciary, a recommendation by the professors, and found nowhere that the Framers of that Amendment made it to incorporate anything other than the “due process” clause of the Fifth Amendment and the “priviledges and immunities” clause of Article 4, Section 2.
Hope this answer helps, and, of course, as always, the professors will correct me if I am mistaken.
Evan