What is meant by intermediate scrutiny?

What is meant by intermediate scrutiny?

Intermediate scrutiny is a test courts will use to determine a statute’s constitutionality. To pass intermediate scrutiny, the challenged law must: further an important government interest. and must do so by means that are substantially related to that interest.

What is an example of strict scrutiny?

During the civil rights era and through today, the Supreme Court has applied Strict Scrutiny to government actions that classify people based on race. For example, in Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court applied Strict Scrutiny to strike down Virginia’s law banning interracial marriage.

What is an example of rational basis scrutiny?

For example, laws that affect persons on account of their race, a “suspect class,” are subject to strict scrutiny and must be justified by the government with a compelling reason.

Where did strict scrutiny come from?

The notion of “levels of judicial scrutiny”, including strict scrutiny, was introduced in Footnote 4 of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Carolene Products Co. (1938), one of a series of decisions testing the constitutionality of New Deal legislation.

What triggers strict scrutiny?

Strict scrutiny will often be invoked in an equal protection claim. For a court to apply strict scrutiny, the legislature must either have passed a law that infringes upon a fundamental right or involves a suspect classification. Suspect classifications include race, national origin, religion, and alienage.

What is an example of rational basis?

A test used to determine whether a law or governmental regulation or action violates the equal protection clause. For example, laws that affect persons on account of their race, a “suspect class,” are subject to strict scrutiny and must be justified by the government with a compelling reason.

What is rational basis with bite?

After recounting the judicial history that lead to the current anything-goes version of the rational basis test for economic liberty concerns, the court adopted what it termed “rational basis with bite,” which demands “actual rationality, scrutinizing the law’s actual basis, and applying an actual test.”

What does rational basis apply to?

In modern constitutional law, the rational basis test is applied to constitutional challenges of both federal law and state law (via the Fourteenth Amendment). This test also applies to both legislative and executive action whether those actions be of a substantive or procedural nature.