Also known as: intermediate scrutiny · intermediate scrutiny test · mid-level scrutiny
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A standard of judicial review that requires a classification to be substantially related to an important governmental objective. The government bears the burden of demonstrating an exceedingly persuasive justification that is genuine rather than hypothesized.
Isaac and India jointly own several rental properties. A state statute permits only the husband to execute a sale deed without the wife's signature. Isaac attempts to sell one parcel, but the recorder refuses to accept the deed. The court invalidates the statute because the gender line cannot survive the required review.
Iris Energy operates streaming platforms subject to a federal rule requiring carriage of a government-curated public-service channel. The mandate displaces some of Iris Energy's preferred programming. The court upholds the rule after finding that it advances important interests unrelated to speech suppression and burdens no more speech than necessary.
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Imran Iyer seeks admission to a state military college that excludes women. The state defends the single-sex policy by citing tradition and educational diversity. The court strikes down the policy because the justification rests on overbroad generalizations rather than a genuine important objective.
Idris Ives, a nonmarital child, files a support action after the statutory window has closed. Marital children face no comparable deadline. The court invalidates the six-year limit because the state failed to show a substantial relationship to preventing stale claims.
Integrity Partners displays directional signs for its events. A town ordinance imposes stricter size and duration limits on directional signs than on ideological signs. The court applies the standard to the content-neutral aspects of the code and finds the distinctions fail the tailoring requirement.
Innovate Pharmaceuticals holds copyrights scheduled to expire. A federal statute extends the terms by twenty years. The court reviews the extension under the applicable standard and concludes that the measure advances important interests without burdening more speech than necessary.
The government must demonstrate an exceedingly persuasive justification that is genuine and not hypothesized. It must also show that the classification is substantially related to an important governmental objective.
Yes. Content-neutral rules such as must-carry obligations receive intermediate scrutiny. The government must prove that the regulation advances important interests unrelated to suppressing speech and does not burden substantially more speech than necessary.
Intermediate scrutiny demands a substantial relationship to an important objective and places the burden on the government. Rational basis review requires only a rational relationship to a legitimate interest and places the burden on the challenger.
A gender classification survives only if the government supplies an exceedingly persuasive justification showing a substantial relationship to a genuine important objective. Overbroad generalizations about the sexes will not suffice.
…holding attempted by RFRA. Even assuming RFRA would be interpreted in effect to mandate some lesser test, say, one equivalent to intermediate scrutiny, the statute nevertheless would require searching judicial scrutiny of state law with the attendant likelihood of invalidation. This is a considerable congressional intrusion into the…