Also known as: rights to due process · due process right · due process rights
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The constitutional guarantee that government may not deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without fair procedures and without a legitimate basis. The right encompasses both procedural protections such as notice and an opportunity to be heard before a neutral decisionmaker and substantive limits on arbitrary government action.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Raymond Ramos, a fit parent, objected when his former partner’s new spouse petitioned for visitation under a state statute allowing any person to seek access based only on the child’s best interests. The court granted visitation without according special weight to Raymond’s contrary judgment. Because the statute failed to presume that a fit parent acts in the child’s best interests, the order violated Raymond’s right to due process.
Ricardo Rojas stood trial for assault. A reliable witness statement that another person had confessed to the crime was excluded under the state hearsay rule even though the statement was critical to the defense. The exclusion left Ricardo without any meaningful way to present his innocence claim, violating his right to due process.
Rosa Ruiz’s son died after a county deputy pursued a speeding motorcycle at high speed through city streets. The chase ended when the motorcycle skidded and the rider was thrown into the path of the patrol car. Because the deputy’s conduct shocked the conscience, the resulting deprivation of life violated the right to due process.
Robert Rivera was charged with deliberate homicide. State law barred him from introducing evidence of his voluntary intoxication to show he lacked the required mental state. The categorical exclusion prevented the jury from considering reliable evidence central to his defense, but the Supreme Court held that the exclusion did not violate his right to due process.
Ralph Richardson was sentenced to death. Prison records and expert evaluations showed he suffered from delusions that prevented him from understanding the reason for or nature of his punishment. Because the state scheduled execution without any procedure to determine current competency, it violated his right to due process.
Rachel Ramirez pleaded guilty in exchange for the prosecutor’s promise to recommend a specific sentence. At sentencing the prosecutor instead urged a harsher term. The breach deprived Rachel of the benefit she had bargained for and violated her right to due process.
A recipient is entitled to timely and adequate notice, an opportunity to present evidence orally, the right to confront adverse witnesses, and a decision by an impartial decisionmaker based on the evidence presented at the hearing.
No. When the property is mobile and could be removed or destroyed, the government may seize it first and provide a meaningful post-seizure opportunity to contest the action.
…differently, say, to prohibit the conduct both between same-sex and different-sex participants. Equality of treatment and the due process right to demand respect for conduct protected by the substantive guarantee of liberty are linked in important respects, and a decision on the latter point advances both interests. If protected…
…Court, accepting the Maine court's interpretation of the Maine law, unanimously agreed with the Court of Appeals that Wilbur's due process rights had been invaded by the presumption casting upon him the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he had acted in the heat of passion upon sudden provocation. Mullaney 's…
…of his intoxication in determining whether he committed the crime purposely or knowingly,” and that this “den[ies] him a due process right to present a defense.” 272 Mont. 114, 122, 894 P. 2d 185, 190 (1995). The State of Montana has chosen to make the voluntary intoxication of a defendant irrelevant to the mental-state…
…Department of Labor v. Triplett , 494 U. S. 715 (1990) (attorney may challenge an attorney's fees restriction by asserting the due process rights
…claim in at least one instance. We held in City of Revere v. Massachusetts Gen. Hospital , 463 U. S. 239 (1983), that "the due process rights
An unmarried father who has established an ongoing custodial relationship with his child possesses a protected liberty interest that requires the state to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard before removing the child.
Yes. A state may prohibit the use of voluntary intoxication evidence to disprove the mental state required for a crime because the exclusion does not offend fundamental principles of justice.
The state must provide a procedure that permits the prisoner to submit evidence and argument on the question of current competency before carrying out the sentence.