The central idea behind the 14th Amendment is that all individuals, regardless of their race or ethnicity, are entitled to “equal protection” under the law. This means that the government cannot create laws or policies that discriminate against any particular group of people, and that all citizens are entitled to the same legal protections and rights. The amendment goes further than this, however, in its language: it provides “equal protection of the laws,” meaning that the states must also extend the same protections offered by the federal government in terms of the laws and legal procedures they apply to their citizens.