View source for Strict scrutiny

{{Short description|Standard of judicial review in US constitutional law}}
{{About|the principle in United States constitutional law|the podcast|Strict Scrutiny}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{United States constitutional law}}
In [[United States constitutional law|U.S. constitutional law]], when a law infringes upon a fundamental [[constitutional right]], the court may apply the '''strict scrutiny''' standard. Strict scrutiny holds the challenged law as presumptively invalid unless the government can demonstrate that the law or regulation is necessary to achieve a "[[Government interest|compelling state interest]]". The government must also demonstrate that the law is "narrowly tailored" to achieve that compelling purpose, and that it uses the "least restrictive means" to achieve that purpose. Failure to meet this standard will result in striking the law as unconstitutional.

Strict scrutiny is the highest and most stringent standard of [[judicial review in the United States]] and is part of the levels of judicial scrutiny that [[Us courts|US courts]] use to determine whether a constitutional right or principle should give way to the government's interest against observance of the principle. The lesser standards are [[rational basis review]] and exacting or [[intermediate scrutiny]]. These standards are applied to statutes and government action at all levels of government within the United States.

The notion of "levels of judicial scrutiny", including strict scrutiny, was introduced in [[United States v. Carolene Products Co.#Footnote Four|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. One of the most notable cases in which the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] applied the strict scrutiny standard and found the government's actions constitutional was ''[[Korematsu v. United States]]'' (1944), since overruled, in which the Court upheld [[Internment of Japanese Americans|the forced relocation]] of [[Japanese American]]s in internment camps during [[World War II]]. Another example is the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|D.C. Circuit Court]]'s 2007 ruling in ''[[Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. von Eschenbach|Abigail Alliance v. von Eschenbach]]'' that compelling government interest was demonstrated in the restriction of unapproved [[prescription drug]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |volume=20 |issue=2 |journal=Journal of Law & Health |pages=309|date=2006–2007|title=Restricting Access to Unapproved Drugs: A Compelling Government Interest|last=Currie |first=Peter M. |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jlh/vol20/iss2/7/ |access-date=2023-07-29}}</ref>

The [[Burden of proof (law)|burden of proof]] falls on the state in cases that require strict scrutiny or intermediate scrutiny, but not the rational basis.

== Applicability ==
U.S. courts apply the strict scrutiny standard in two contexts:

* when a fundamental constitutional right is infringed,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blackmun |first=H. |title=Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/410/113/|access-date=2023-02-12|website=Justia Law|language=en}}</ref> particularly those found in the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] and those the court has deemed a [[fundamental right]] protected by the [[Due Process Clause]] or "liberty clause" of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|14th Amendment]], or
* when a government action applies to a "[[suspect classification]]", such as [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]] or [[national origin]].

To satisfy the strict scrutiny standard, the law or policy must:

* be justified by a [[government interest|compelling governmental interest]]. While the Courts have never [[bright line rule|brightly defined]] how to determine if an interest is compelling, the concept generally refers to something necessary or crucial, as opposed to something merely preferred. Examples include national security, preserving the lives of a large number of individuals, and not violating explicit constitutional protections.
* be [[narrow tailoring|narrowly tailored]] to achieve that goal or interest. If the government action encompasses too much (is [[overbreadth doctrine|overbroad]]) or fails to address essential aspects of the compelling interest, then the rule is not considered narrowly tailored.
* be the least restrictive means for achieving that interest: there must not be a less restrictive way to effectively achieve the compelling government interest. The test will be met even if there is another method that is equally the least restrictive. Some legal scholars consider this "least restrictive means" requirement part of being narrowly tailored, but the Court generally evaluates it separately.

Legal scholars, including judges and professors, often say that strict scrutiny is "strict in theory, fatal in fact" since popular perception is that most laws subjected to the standard are struck down. However, an empirical study of strict scrutiny decisions in the federal courts found that laws survive strict scrutiny more than 30% of the time. In one area of law, [[freedom of religion|religious liberty]], laws that burden religious liberty survived strict scrutiny review in nearly 60% of cases. However, a discrepancy was found in the type of religious liberty claim, with most claims for exemption from law failing and no allegedly discriminatory laws surviving.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=897360|title=Fatal in Theory and Strict in Fact: An Empirical Analysis of Strict Scrutiny in the Federal Courts|first=Adam|last=Winkler|date=April 18, 2006|ssrn=897360 |via=papers.ssrn.com}}</ref> See also the cases cited below, however; several appear to permit the exemption from laws based upon religious liberty.

[[Harvard Law School|Harvard law]] professor Richard Fallon Jr. has written that rather than being neatly applied, under strict scrutiny, "interpretation is more varied than is often recognized",<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fallon, Jr.|first=Richard|date=2007|title=Strict Judicial Scrutiny|url=https://www.uclalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/33_54UCLALRev1267June2007.pdf|journal=UCLA Law Review|volume=54|pages=1267}}</ref> a view that has been acknowledged by U.S. [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] (e.g., in his dissent (part III) in ''[[Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt|Hellerstedt]]'').<ref>{{cite court |court=US Supreme Court |date=2016-07-27 |litigants=[[Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt|Whole Woman's Health et al. v. Hellerstedt, Commissioner, Texas Department of State Health Services, et al.]] |pinpoint=pp. 11-14 of Thomas's dissent |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-274_new_e18f.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701040743/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-274_new_e18f.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The compelling state interest test is distinguishable from the [[rational basis]] test, which involves claims that do not involve a suspect class or [[fundamental right]], but still arise under the [[Equal Protection Clause]] or [[Due Process Clause]].

[[Presumption of constitutionality]] doesn't apply under ''strict scrutiny''; the burden to prove the constitutionality of a law shifts to the government lawyers.

==Suspect classification==
{{Main article|Suspect classification}}
The Supreme Court has established standards for determining whether a statute or policy must satisfy strict scrutiny. One ruling suggested that the affected class of people must have experienced a history of discrimination, must be definable as a group based on "obvious, immutable, or distinguishing characteristics", or be a minority or "politically powerless".<ref>{{cite web |title=Lyng v. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635 (1986) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/477/635/ |website=Justia - US Supreme Court |access-date=9 May 2022 |date=27 June 1986 |quote=As a historical matter, [close relatives] have not been subjected to discrimination; they do not exhibit obvious, immutable, or distinguishing characteristics that define them as a discrete group; and they are not a minority, or politically powerless.}}</ref>

The Court has consistently found that classifications based on race, national origin, and alienage require strict scrutiny review. The Supreme Court held that all race-based classifications must be subjected to strict scrutiny in ''[[Adarand Constructors v. Peña]],'' 515 U.S. 200 (1995), overruling ''[[Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC]]'' (89-453), 497 U.S. 547 (1990), which had briefly allowed the use of intermediate scrutiny to analyze the Equal Protection implications of race-based classifications in the narrow category of affirmative-action programs established by the federal government in the broadcasting field.

==''De jure'' versus ''de facto'' discrimination==
As applied in ''[[Korematsu v. United States]]'', which upheld the race-based [[Executive Order 9066|exclusion order]] and internment during [[World War II]] of [[Japanese American]]s who had resided on the West Coast of the United States, strict scrutiny was limited to instances of ''[[de jure]]'' discrimination, where a racial classification is written into the language of a statute.

The Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.]]'' provided further definition to the concept of intent and clarified three particular areas in which intent of a particular administrative or legislative decision becomes apparent, the presence of any of which demands the harsher equal protection test. The Court must use strict scrutiny if one of these tests, among others, is met:
# the impact is so "stark and dramatic" as to be unexplainable on non-racial grounds, as in ''[[Yick Wo v. Hopkins]]'' (1886);
# the historical background of the decision suggests intent;
# the legislative and administrative records leading up to the decision show intent.

=== Notable cases ===
*''[[Skinner v. Oklahoma|Skinner v. State of Oklahoma]], [[ex rel|ex. rel.]] Williamson'', [[Case citation|316 U.S. 535]] (1942), cf. ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'' {{ussc|274|200|1927}}, banning [[Compulsory sterilization|forced sterilization]] under certain circumstances.
*''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), ending [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] in public schools
*''[[Sherbert v. Verner]]'', 374 U.S. 398 (1963), invalidating state law denying unemployment benefits to employees fired for refusing to violate their religious belief
*''[[Griswold v. Connecticut]]'', 381 U.S. 479 (1965), striking down prohibition of [[contraceptives]]
*''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'', 897 U.S. 113 (1967), striking down [[Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States|prohibition of interracial marriage]]
*''[[Wisconsin v. Yoder]]'', 406 U.S. 205 (1972), striking down law requiring all minors to attend public school, thereby permitting [[Amish]] to remove their children from public schools after 8th grade
*''[[Employment Division v. Smith]]'', 494 U.S. 872 (1990), allowing states to deny unemployment benefits to those using illegal drugs for religious purposes
*''[[City of Boerne v. Flores]]'', 521 U.S. 507 (1997), holding that some zoning laws may be an undue restriction of religious freedom
*''[[Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal]]'', 546 U.S. 418 (2006), allowing religious use of illegal drugs

== See also ==
*[[Principle of proportionality#European Union law]]
*[[Undue burden standard]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{US Constitution}}

[[Category:United States constitutional law]]
[[Category:Legal history of the United States]]
[[Category:Civil rights and liberties]]