Due process—a freedom also found in the Fourteenth Amendment—is one of the most important rights in the American legal system. It ensures a basic level of fundamental fairness before the state infringes on individual liberty.

Due process has often been divided into two basic categories: procedural due process and substantive due process. Procedural due process means that the government must guarantee a fair process before taking away an individual’s life, liberty, or property. The basic elements to procedural due process are notice and the right to a fair hearing. This prevents the government from arbitrarily taking away someone’s job or freedom.

Substantive due process means that laws cannot be irrational and arbitrary. Instead laws must advance a legitimate, governmental objective. Normally, the government must have a rational basis for its laws.