Put simply, the 14th Amendment protects individuals against overreaching state and local governments. Here’s how Rand Paul summarized his views on that amendment yesterday at Howard:

“Many Republicans do believe that decentralization of power is the best policy, that government is more efficient, more just, and more personal when it is smaller and more local.

But Republicans also realize that there are occasions of such egregious injustice that require federal involvement, and that is precisely what the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act were intended to do–protect citizens from state and local tyranny.”

That position is consistent with the text and history of the 14th Amendment. But it differs dramatically from the interpretation of the same amendment favored by Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul. …

So while Rand Paul says that the 14th Amendment was designed to “protect citizens from state and local tyranny,” Ron Paul thinks the federal courts have no business enforcing the 14th Amendment at all.