Due process

An established course for judicial proceedings or other governmental activities designed to safeguard the legal rights of the individual.

Purpose

The guarantee of due process is found in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which states “no person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and in the Fourteenth Amendment, which states “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

Boundaries

The boundaries of due process are not fixed and are the subject of endless judicial interpretation and decision-making.

Notice

Fundamental to procedural due process is adequate notice prior to the government’s deprivation of one’s life, liberty, or property, and an opportunity to be heard and defend one’s rights to life, liberty, or property.

Limit to governments power

• Substantive due process is a limit on the government’s power to enact laws or regulations that affect one’s life, liberty, or property rights.
• It is a safeguard from governmental action that is not related to any legitimate government interest or that is unfair, irrational, or arbitrary in its furtherance of a government interest.
• The requirement of due process applies to agency actions.

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