structural:scholar_edition
Due Process Clause

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly applies the Fifth Amendment's similar clause to state governments. This reinforcement of due process rights was in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowing slave owners to recapture their fugitive slaves "without process" and rejecting the testimony of alleged fugitives. In protecting all people against arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property, courts have recognized both procedural and substantive due process. Procedural due process deals with the processes for restraining life, liberty, or property, such as the right to be notified of a hearing by a neutral decision-maker. In comparison, substantive due process involves the government's justification for engaging in those processes. In deciding whether legislation unconstitutionally infringes on one's liberty, most government acts are subject to rational basis review, under which the government must present a legitimate state interest and the law must be rationally related to advancing that interest. When the government infringes on fundamental rights, such as racial equality, strict scrutiny requires its actions to instead be narrowly tailored to address a compelling state interest.