Also known as: strict scrutiny
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The most demanding standard of judicial review. A law or classification subject to this standard must be narrowly tailored to advance a compelling governmental interest and must actually achieve that interest through the least restrictive means.
City officials enacted a rule banning a particular animal-slaughter technique used only by members of one religious group. Simone Sanders, a practitioner, faced prosecution under the ordinance. Because the rule singled out religious conduct for disfavored treatment, the court applied strictest scrutiny and invalidated the measure after finding no compelling interest that justified the targeted prohibition.
A county board reserved a fixed percentage of public contracts for businesses owned by members of designated racial minorities. Sasha Stone, owner of a non-qualifying firm, challenged the program. The court subjected the racial preference to strictest scrutiny and struck it down because the county offered only generalized assertions of past discrimination rather than particularized evidence tied to the local industry.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A municipal agency adopted a rule barring foster-care organizations from declining to certify same-sex couples yet retained discretion to grant case-by-case waivers. Seth Shapiro, director of a religiously affiliated agency, refused certification on faith-based grounds and lost his contract. The court applied strictest scrutiny because the waiver authority rendered the policy not generally applicable and held the rule unconstitutional.
Federal law prohibited registration of any mark that a substantial portion of the public would find disparaging. Sabrina Shah attempted to register a mark containing a term some found offensive. The court treated the bar as a viewpoint-based restriction on private speech and invalidated it under strictest scrutiny because the government may not suppress expression merely because it disapproves of the message.
A state statute limited inheritance rights of children born outside marriage unless paternity had been formally acknowledged. Selena Singh, an illegitimate child whose father died intestate, was excluded from the estate. The court applied strictest scrutiny to the illegitimacy classification and held the statute unconstitutional because the distinction lacked a sufficiently weighty justification.
A state criminal statute prohibited married couples from using or receiving information about contraceptives. Samantha Stone and her husband were denied access at a local clinic. The court subjected the ban to strictest scrutiny as an infringement on a fundamental privacy right and invalidated the law for failing to demonstrate a compelling interest narrowly served by the prohibition.
Strictest scrutiny applies when a law classifies on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin or burdens a fundamental right. The government must then prove the classification is narrowly tailored to a compelling interest. Generalized assertions of past societal discrimination are insufficient to satisfy this standard.
Supporting sources
A policy that permits individualized exemptions is not generally applicable. Such a policy triggers strictest scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause because it invites officials to decide which religious claims receive relief. The government must then show the policy is necessary to a compelling interest and narrowly tailored.
Supporting sources
The government must identify specific past discrimination in the relevant industry and jurisdiction and demonstrate that the preference is narrowly tailored to remedy that discrimination. Broad societal discrimination does not suffice. The program must also avoid over- or under-inclusiveness relative to the identified harm.
Supporting sources
…law restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples constituted a classification on the basis of sex and was therefore subject to strict scrutiny under the Hawaii Constitution. Baehr v. Lewin , 74 Haw. 530, 852 P. 2d 44. Although this decision did not mandate that same-sex marriage be allowed, some States were concerned by its…