Due Process of Law - Quick Lessons - Episode # 4 - YouTube

I hope this finds you well.

Due process is so important to every citizen of the United States.

It directly impacts what the government can and can’t do with your rights.

Due process prohibits a state from depriving an individual or group individuals of their

rights, By establishing procedural safeguards.

A deprivation occurs when there is no remedy, or inadequate remedies are, afforded by the

government.

A right is something that is fundamental to liberty and so deeply rooted in our history

and tradition.

The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment applies to the federal government and the

due process clause of the 14th amendment applies to the states.

So let's get started.

Due process comes in two flavors; procedural due process and substantive due process.

We're gonna look at each of them in-turn.

Procedural due process requires notice and an opportunity to be heard before life, liberty,

or property can be taken.

Just for a moment we're gonna take a brief sidestep just to look at some examples of

life, liberty, or property.

Deprivation of life is pretty self-explanatory.

Deprivation of liberty isn't as clear.

Deprivation of liberty is the loss of any kind of significant freedom to act or the

denial of one of your freedoms provided to you by the Constitution or a statute.

An example is the exercise of a fundamental right.

Deprivation of property, at first blush, appears to be anything that you physically own, but

it is way more than that.

An individual has a property interest in anything that they have a legitimate claim to or are

entitled to under state or federal law.

This can be welfare benefits, some forms of employment, as well as public school attendance.

Now lets get back on the beaten path.

So how do you know how much procedural due process is required, remember thats our notice

and hearing?

The Supreme Court uses a balancing test.

That balancing test is from a case in 1976 called Mathews vs. Eldridge and has come to

be known as the Mathews balancing test or economic balancing test.

There are three factors that the court weighs in determining how much procedural due process

is required.

First, you look at the nature of the private interest meaning its importance.

Fundamental rights of course are very important.

Second, the ability of the procedure used by the government to increase the accuracy

of its decisions.

Basically preventing arbitrary application of a law or decision.

And finally, the court looks at the government's interest.

Thats procedural due process in a nutshell.

Lets move on to substantive due process.

Substantive due process is no longer concerned with whether the government provided notice

and a hearing before it deprived someone of life, liberty, or property.

Substantive due process asks, whether or not the government had sufficient justification

for infringing on a right.

Said differently, Substantive due process ensures that laws or government actions are

reasonable.

The Supreme Court determines whether a law or government action has gone too far through

the use of standards.

With substantive due process we are concerned with two standards; the strict scrutiny standard

and the rational basis or minimum scrutiny standard.

So how do you know which one applies?

It depends on whether a fundamental right is at stake.

Examples of fundamental rights are your right to raise children, the right to marry, the

right to privacy, etc.

Unless it's a fundamental right at stake the rational basis test applies.

Examples are economic interests, lifestyle choices, taxation, basically any time a fundamental

right is not involved.

So here are the standards.

The court will apply strict scrutiny when a fundamental right is involved.

The government has the burden of showing that the law was necessary to achieve a compelling

government interest or purpose.

The court will apply the rational basis test in all other cases, and under the rational

basis test the individual challenging the law must show that the law is not rationally

related to a legitimate government interest.

And that's substantive due process in a nutshell.

I know that substantive due process and equal protection can be very similar but the easiest

way to remember the difference between equal protection, which will be discussed in a different

video, and substantive due process, is that substantive due process is concerned when

a law limits the liberty of all people.

Where as, equal protection is only concerned when the law is treating a person or class

of persons differently from others.

Thanks for watching