Derek Black of Howard University School of Law just published an interesting article,The Contradiction Between Equal Protection’s Meaning And Its Legal Substance: How Deliberate Indifference Can Cure It, 15 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 533 (2006), that examines the legislative intent behind the 14th Amendment and how the current “intent doctrine” strays from the original purpose of the amendment. Worth a read for fans for legal history or constitutional scholarship.