Phrase guide

Palko test

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A judicial test as to whether a US state is bound by the United States Bill of Rights in relation to a specific right claimed by the plaintiff, hinging on whether the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution override the immunity which ordinarily applies to states; specifically, the right in question must be "of the very essence of a scheme of ordered liberty" and "deeply rooted in [American] history and tradition" in order to qualify.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the case of Palko v. Connecticut (1937), after Frank Palko, a Connecticut resident charged with murder.