substantive due process

noun

A principle in United States constitutional law that allows courts to protect substantive law and certain rights from the government.

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Meanings

nounsubstantive due process (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA principle in United States constitutional law that allows courts to protect substantive law and certain rights from the government.
    1 more example

    So this test, this whole area of substantive due process, is tricky for some of the reasons you say. That’s been a criticism of the doctrine in general and a criticism of the general notion that we can have rights that the Constitution doesn’t specify, precisely because of the kind of inquiry that it invites judges to undertake.

    2025 October 16, Ross Douthat, quoting Amy Coney Barrett, “Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2025
Cite this entry
APA

substantive due process. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/substantive%20due%20process

MLA

“substantive due process.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/substantive%20due%20process. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “substantive due process,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/substantive%20due%20process.

Source: substantive due process on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.