Due Process: What is it and Why Does it Matter? - Texas State University

[Pages:42]Due Process: What is it and Why Does it Matter?

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What We Will Cover

?What is Due Process? ?What is the Origin of Due Process? ?What Does Due Process Mean Today?

?Procedural Due Process ?Protection from Vaguely Written Laws ?Substantive Due Process ?Due Process in the Daily Life of a Justice of the Peace

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What should be the most important trait of a court?

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How Would You Rule?

What is the most important trait of a court? A. To get all your pending cases decided as quickly as

possible. B. To impress everyone by being decisive and clear in your

rulings. C. To be fair and give the appearance of fairness in all of

the court's proceedings.

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What is Due Process?

? Idea that laws and legal proceedings must be fair.

? Limitation on the coercive power of government.

? Protection against arbitrary governmental action.

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What is Due Process?

?Due Process ensures fairness before a person is deprived of a fundamental right by some action of the government.

?It is an obligation owed by the government. ?Not by:

?A private citizen. ?The public. ?The media.

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What is Due Process?

? A state might: ? Fire someone from a government job. ? Send a defendant to prison. ? Revoke a prisoner's parole. ? Cut social security payments or welfare benefits.

? Due Process does not prohibit these actions. ? But it does require that certain procedures are followed

before any action is taken.

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Origin of Due Process

? Anglo Saxon law: ? All property was held under the right of the King. ? The King could divest anyone of property and give it to someone else.

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Origin of Due Process

? This led to the Magna Carta in 1215: ? No free man could be imprisoned or exiled and his freedom and lands could not be taken "except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." ? King John was forced to sign it.

? Codified by King Edward III in 1354 ? First time the words "due process" were used.

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Origin of Due Process

? Words "due process" are not in the Constitution itself as adopted in 1788. ? Proposed by only one state (New York) as an amendment. ? Included in the Fifth Amendment: ? "No person . . . shall be deprived of life, liberty or

property without due process of law."

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Origin of Due Process

?The Supreme Court held in 1833 that the Fifth Amendment due process clause is not directly binding on the states. ? But the 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868. ?And it says: ?"[N]or shall any State deprive any person of

life, liberty or property without due process of law."

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Texas Constitution

? Article I, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution: "No citizen of this State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land."

? Article I, Section 13: "All courts shall be open, and every person for an injury done him, in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law."

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What Does Due Process Mean Today?

(1) Procedural Due Process ? Two key components: ? The government cannot charge you with a crime or take other action depriving you of life, liberty or property without notifying you of the charges or proposed action; and ? You must be given an opportunity to present your side of the story to a neutral fact-finder before action is taken. ? Due process does not mean you have the right to be believed; only that you have the right to be heard.

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What Does Due Process Mean Today?

(2) Protection from vaguely written laws. (3) Substantive Due Process

? Does a government action or a law unreasonably infringe on a fundamental liberty or property interest regardless of the procedure the affected person is given?

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Procedural Due Process

?Procedural due process rules do not protect persons from the deprivation of life, liberty or property but from the mistaken or unjustified deprivation of life, liberty or property.

-- Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 259 (1978); Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 344 (1976)

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How Do They Do This?

? By enabling persons to contest the basis on which a state proposes to deprive them of protected interests.

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