Legal Concepts

Due Process

The rule that the government cannot take someone’s life, freedom, or property without a trial. Due process appears in the Fifth Amendment and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Landmark Cases Involving Due Process:

A drawing of two African slaves.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Enslaved People Are Not Citizens and Cannot Sue
Mugshot of Gideon for Florida state prison in 1961.

Gideon v. Wainwright

Indigent Defendants Have the Right to Counsel
A flier reading "instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry living in the following area."

Korematsu v. United States

Japanese American Internment During World War II was Constitutional
A mugshot of Mapp.

Mapp v. Ohio

Illegally Obtained Evidence is Inadmissible in State Courts
Mugshot of Miranda for Arizona state prison in 1967.

Miranda v. Arizona

Police Must Inform Suspects of Their Rights
A photo of two students walking down a school hallway together.

New Jersey v. T.L.O.

School Searches Do Not Violate the Fourth Amendment

Learn more about due process in Wex, a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia from Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. 

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