Also known as: due process clause · due process · 5th amendment due process · 14th amendment due process
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The constitutional commands in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments that prohibit the federal and state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. These clauses protect against arbitrary governmental action through both procedural requirements of notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard and substantive limits on infringements of fundamental rights.
Dwight Dorsey faces a federal administrative proceeding that will revoke his security clearance. The agency issues the revocation order with no prior notice or opportunity to respond. The court sets aside the order because the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause forbids depriving a person of a protected liberty interest without notice and a meaningful hearing.
Diana Delgado and Devon Drake, an interracial couple, seek a marriage license in their home state. State officials refuse the license under a statute prohibiting such unions. The couple prevails because the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause protects the fundamental right to marry a person of another race.
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Dorothy Daniels receives notice that her state-issued professional license will be revoked immediately. The state provides no hearing or opportunity to contest the action. The revocation violates the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause because the state may not deprive a person of a protected interest without due process of law.
Darius Dixon, convicted of a qualifying offense, faces mandatory sterilization under state law. The state applies the statute without individualized consideration of his circumstances. The scheme violates the Due Process Clause because the right to procreate is fundamental and cannot be extinguished through compulsory sterilization.
Dustin Donovan lives with and cares for his nonmarital child. After the mother's death, state officials remove the child without any hearing to assess Donovan's parental fitness. The removal violates the Due Process Clause because an unmarried father who maintains a family unit holds a protected liberty interest in his relationship with the child.
Dover Bank serves as trustee for a common trust fund with numerous beneficiaries. The bank publishes notice of a judicial settlement proceeding only in a local newspaper. Several beneficiaries never receive actual notice and later challenge the judgment. The proceeding fails to satisfy due process because notice must be reasonably calculated to inform interested parties of the action.
The clauses protect life, liberty, and property interests. A person must show a protected interest before claiming a right to process, and the government must provide notice and an opportunity to be heard when it seeks to deprive that interest.
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The Fifth Amendment applies to the federal government while the Fourteenth Amendment applies to the states. Both contain identical language and courts interpret them to impose the same substantive and procedural constraints on government action.
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Yes. The clauses protect fundamental rights such as the right to marry and the right to procreate from arbitrary governmental interference even when fair procedures are provided.
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…her pregnancy. Appellant would discover this right in the concept of personal "liberty" embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause; or in personal, marital, familial, and sexual privacy said to be protected by the Bill of Rights or its penumbras, see Griswold v. Connecticut , 381 U.S. 479 (1965); Eisenstadt v.…