What are the three levels of judicial scrutiny?

There are three judicial review tests: the rational basis test, the intermediate scrutiny test, and the strict scrutiny test. The intermediate scrutiny test and the strict scrutiny test are considered more stringent than the rational basis test.

What are examples 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.

Which case was a bad example of strict scrutiny?

The Supreme Court found that the government had a compelling governmental interest in protecting minors from harm. However, the court found in Ashcroft v. ACLU (2004) that the law failed strict scrutiny because the restrictions it put on free speech were not the least restrictive available.

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.

What are the three levels of scrutiny that the courts use in determining whether a law violates the equal protection clause?

Equal Protection Analysis After proving this, the court will typically scrutinize the governmental action in one of several three ways to determine whether the governmental body’s action is permissible: these three methods are referred to as strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis scrutiny.

What cases used strict scrutiny?

The first and most notable case in which the Supreme Court applied the strict scrutiny standard and found the government’s actions constitutional was Korematsu v. United States (1944), in which the Court upheld the forced relocation of Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II.

What is heightened judicial scrutiny?

Heightened scrutiny is a standard of evaluation that US judges must meet in certain kinds of cases when a policy, rule, or law is brought to a court by someone who wishes to challenge it. It is one of three levels of scrutiny and is also known as intermediate scrutiny.

What is an example of rational basis?

The Supreme Court applied the rational basis test to determine if the law enacted by the federal government should overrule state marriage laws. As more and more states began to allow same-sex marriage, the Court saw that DOMA could be used to deny the rights of individuals based on sexual orientation.

What level of scrutiny should be applied?

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.