Also known as: fundamental interests · fundamental right
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A liberty interest or right deemed essential to personal autonomy and family life. Governmental action that significantly burdens such an interest receives strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection or Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and must be narrowly tailored to a compelling state interest.
Fatima Flores, a Black woman, and Francois Fortier, a white man, applied for a marriage license in their home state. The clerk refused under a statute prohibiting interracial unions. The couple sued, arguing the classification burdened their ability to marry. The court applied strict scrutiny because the right to marry is a fundamental interest and invalidated the statute.
Felipe Figueroa and his wife sought to enroll their children in a private religious academy rather than the local public school. State law required attendance only at public institutions. The parents challenged the mandate as interfering with their authority over education. The court recognized the fundamental interest in directing a child's upbringing and struck down the compulsory public-school rule.
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Felicia Fuentes, convicted of a minor theft, faced a state statute mandating sterilization for repeat offenders of certain crimes. She sued to enjoin the procedure. Because the right to procreate constitutes a fundamental interest, the court subjected the classification to strict scrutiny and held the statute unconstitutional.
Flora Ford, an Amish parent, refused to send her fourteen-year-old son to high school as required by state compulsory-attendance law. The state sought enforcement through fines. The court found that the fundamental interest in directing a child's upbringing, combined with free-exercise concerns, entitled the family to an exemption.
Faith Fitzgerald, owing unpaid child support, applied for a marriage license. State law required her to obtain court approval first. She challenged the statute as an obstacle to exercising the right to marry. The court held that the fundamental interest in marriage demanded close tailoring and invalidated the permission requirement.
Fusion Power employee Fatima Flores lived with her grandson and great-grandson in a single-family home. City zoning limited occupancy to nuclear families. She challenged the ordinance after receiving an eviction notice. The court treated the interest in maintaining extended family living arrangements as fundamental and applied heightened scrutiny.
Strict scrutiny applies. The state must demonstrate that the law is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest.
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Yes. Laws that significantly interfere with the decision to marry receive strict scrutiny and must be closely tailored to important state interests.
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Yes. States may set reasonable educational standards but cannot require all children to attend only public schools, because parents possess a fundamental interest in choosing private education.
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Yes. Compulsory sterilization statutes that classify offenders for sterilization violate equal protection and due process because they burden the fundamental interest in procreation.
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…to the requests for a declaratory judgment, abstention was not warranted. On the merits, the District Court held that the "fundamental right of single women and married persons to choose whether to have children is protected by the Ninth Amendment, through the Fourteenth Amendment," and that the Texas criminal abortion statutes…